ROME – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is not on Roman leave. More than 30 of his car motorcades crashed into the unusually dim, overcrowded streets of the Italian capital on Wednesday morning for a second visit in a year in the Italian capital. Instead of accepting a hero’s reception, Pope Francis was accused of trying to exploit the pope on behalf of President Trump, as he did last time with a private audience and a visit to his ancestral home outside of Rome.

The trilateral relationship between the US, Italy and the Holy See should be a pre-election opportunity to show that US relations with Rome are stronger than ever. Italian headlines mocking Trump’s debating failure in Ohio on Tuesday night overtook it, coming first on the cold shoulder of Pope Francis, who this time refused to see him.

In the community remote conference room at the Posh Excelsior Hotel in Via Veneto, near the US Embassy, ​​Pompeo replaced a program presented by US Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Zingrich, entitled “Leading and Defending International Religious Freedom through Diplomacy”. Bishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary of state for relations with the Vatican, made a speech after Pompeo, but with the pope’s blessing, he could best say, “His Holiness knows about this meeting.”

The Vatican’s press office said earlier in the week that after a warm welcome to Pompeo, he had been pressured about why he seemed to be cheating, and that the pope did not like to catch up with high-ranking government officials close to important elections. As he spoke, ANSA news agency Gallagher was asked to confirm “why the pope was exploited in the final stages of the US presidential election campaign.” “Yes, that’s why the Pope did not meet with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,” Gallagher confirmed.

The pope is also said to be upset at Pompeo’s comments about the Holy See Rising tensions with China Renewal of the 2018 agreement aimed at legalizing the Beijing compulsory Chinese Catholic Church and bringing in Chinese Catholics en masse.

Pompeo did not waste time on Jimrich’s platform to call such a move. “Religious freedom is not under attack anywhere else in China today,” Pompeo said. “Like all communist regimes, the Chinese Communist Party considers it the ultimate moral authority.”

Pompeo provoked the pope earlier this month by pressuring the Vatican to abandon its agreement with the orthodox Catholic magazine. First things first. “The Holy See has a unique ability and obligation to focus the world’s attention on human rights abuses, especially crimes committed by dictatorial regimes such as Beijing,” he wrote. “The Church teaches the world about religious freedom and solidarity. The Vatican must now be strongly and firmly informed in the context of the Chinese Communist Party’s persistent efforts to distort all sects of the Chinese Communist Party into the will of the party and its dictatorial agenda.”

The Chinese Catholic Church has been a priority since its election in 2013. Pope’s desire to give Catholics from China a chance to bless the Vatican does not seem to be affected by pressure from abroad.

Pompeo’s Roman visit also includes meetings with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Foreign Minister Luigi de Mayo, a member of the five – star movement, who have been asked to isolate many of their MPs after a small Covid cluster appeared to be spreading within the party. Members. He will receive a private tour of the Borges Gallery on Wednesday night before hosting a short but bright dinner at the Ambassador’s residence. On Thursday, Pompeo will visit a Catholic charity dealing with Syrian refugees and meet privately with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parole, where China relations will be at the top of the agenda.