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Pope looked anti-Trump by refusing to meet Mike Pompeo, says retired Hong Kong bishop
- Joseph Zen calls the Vatican’s snub of the US secretary of state ‘ridiculous’ after it says it does not meet politicians during election campaigns
- Pompeo had written that the Vatican should be tougher over its deal with the Chinese government, since renewed, on appointing Catholic bishops
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Retired Hong Kong bishop Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun has criticised the Vatican’s decision not to grant US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo an audience with Pope Francis during his trip to the Holy See last month.
The Vatican said at the time – weeks before the US elections on November 3 – that it did not meet politicians during election campaign periods, but Zen, who was also snubbed by Pope Francis on his recent trip to Rome, said in an interview that it was “ridiculous” for the Pope not to see an incumbent US secretary of state on such grounds.
“Now, they have made an enemy of [US President Donald] Trump,” Zen said. “So I don’t know how they can repair such damage.”
Zen suggested that the Vatican’s efforts to remain non-partisan had made it appear “against Trump”, and that the Pope would have granted an audience to an official from the presidential campaign of Trump’s opponent Joe Biden.
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China and the Vatican renew controversial bishops deal after ‘good start’
China and the Vatican renew controversial bishops deal after ‘good start’
Although the Rome trips of Zen and Pompeo overlapped, Zen said the two did not meet in the city. However, Pompeo and Zen – an outspoken critic of China’s authoritarian rule – had previously spoken over Skype about topics including the situation in Hong Kong.
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