Today, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took part in a panel on religious freedom, organized by the U.S. embassy to the Holy See.

The US leader went after China, while the Vatican representative, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign minister did not.

Gallaher remarks were focuses on the imposition of gender ideology in the West as a violation of religious freedom.

Speaking with Rome journos afterwards, Gallagher said that the Holy See's diplomacy includes avoiding to "name and blame."

He also told reporters the proximity of Pompeo’s visit to the U.S. election, was “one of the reasons why the Holy Father is not receiving the secretary of state.”

Pompeo will meet with Gallagher and the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, tomorrow.

Pompeo urged a greater commitment from faith leaders to stand up for all religious believers.

“To be a church ‘permanently in a state of mission’ has many meanings,” Pompeo said, quoting Francis. “Surely one of them is to be a church permanently in defense of basic human rights”

"Nowhere is religious freedom under assault more than in China," Pompeo said.

"Pope John Paul II bore witness to his flock's suffering, and challenged tyranny," he also said, adding he he hoped the Church might "be so bold in our time."

On the eve of Pompeo's arrival, the Vatican defended its agreement with China, saying it is purely an ecclesial matter about bishop nominations and is not a political or diplomatic accord. https://cruxnow.com/church-in-asia/2020/09/vatican-defends-china-bishop-negotiations-on-eve-of-u-s-visit/