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Is the Vatican Turning a Blind Eye to Chinese Human Rights Violations?

Jamie Dettmer

   ROME - The Vatican is likely to renew next month an agreement with
   Beijing governing the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops and the
   status of churches in China, according to officials in the Holy See.
   But signs a renewal is likely of the largely secret accord is prompting
   growing unease in some quarters in the church. Critics say renewing the
   deal opens the Vatican to the charge that it is kowtowing to the
   Chinese Communist government by turning a blind eye to human rights
   violations in China.
   The accord governing the terms of the Catholic Church's operations in
   China was a source of controversy when it was signed, as the full
   details of the 2018 agreement, due to expire in September, have never
   been published.
   Claims last month by a private intelligence group, Recorded Future, a
   threat intelligence firm, that Beijing-directed cyber-spies have been
   hacking Vatican computer networks in an apparent espionage operation to
   gather intelligence on the Holy See's negotiating positions ahead of
   talks do not appear to have caused Vatican officials alarm, nor
   prompted them to rethink. Chinese officials have denied the hacking
   allegations, dubbing them "groundless speculation."

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