The politician Bergoglio Keeps Mum About China - by Gianni Toffali
However, as a clever politician he was very careful not to give his opinion on the violent battle between the pro-democracy protesters and the Chinese Communist gerarchy.
He replied to the journalists who were waiting for his opinion that "I can't evaluate the situation."
His support for the most ruthless red dictatorship in the world was reciprocated the next day in the form of thanksgivings. The men of the dictator Xi Jinping publicly expressed their gratitude to their party sympathiser.
Yet, the advocate of the poor, Pope Francis, should be aware that the People's Republic of China is led by a one-party communist dictatorship, in which dissent is violently repressed.
China is the country in the world where the most death sentences are carried out, even though the authorities refuse to publish any statistics.
In 2007, the controversial Amnesty International reported on 470 executions, but estimates a total of at least 6,000 executions over the year.
The Italian NGO Nessuno tocchi Caino estimates a similar figure of at least 5000 executions in the same period, accounting for 85.4% of the world total.
A Chinese politician, Chen Zhonglin, a lawyer and dean of the law faculty at the South East China University, spoke about 10,000 executions a year in an interview with the China Youth Daily.
If men of religion adapt to the cynicism of politics, this means that God is really dead.
Picture: © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk, CC BY-NC-SA, #newsQbesvqtkbc
