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Pope Francis-era deal with Chinese Communist Party again under scrutiny as Pope Leo takes the reins

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Pope Francis-era deal with Chinese Communist Party again under scrutiny as Pope Leo takes the reins

A 2018 deal between the Vatican and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secured by Cardinal Pietro Parolin is once again under scrutiny as questions remain over how newly appointed Pope Leo XIV will take on the CCP.

The Parolin-brokered deal was and remains a controversial agreement between the leaders of the Catholic Church and the CCP, which has long oppressed Catholics across China. 

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While the agreement was championed by the late Pope Francis and his secretary of state, Parolin — the Vatican’s top diplomat — as a step toward “normalizing” Catholicism in the communist nation, experts argue it has brought dangerous consequences for the faithful.

WORLD LEADERS CONGRATULATE POPE LEO XIV, FIRST AMERICAN PONTIFF

Cardinal Pietro Parolin. (Stefano Carofei /IPA/Sipa/IMAGN)

“It erodes papal authority to appoint bishops, the leadership of the Catholic Church in China,” Nina Shea, senior fellow and director of the Center for Religious Freedom at Hudson Institute, told Fox News Digital. 

“A principal responsibility of a bishop is to train and ordain priests,” she explained. “Therefore, the CCP has been given control in determining the chain of authority in the hierarchical church.”

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Under this agreement, all Catholic clergy are required to register with the CCP’s Patriotic Association — which was created in 1957 and was long rejected by the Catholic Church as illegitimate because it required that all clergy reject foreign influence, including that of the pope.

Parolin in 2019 said the aim of this agreement was “to advance religious freedom in the sense of finding normalization for the Catholic community.”

Details of the deal remain unclear because it has been kept secret, explained Shea. 

While the agreement reportedly looked to end the decades-long negative ties between the Vatican and the CCP by allowing China to have more influence over bishop appointments, experts have argued for years it gave too much authority to the oppressive government. 

But there is an even greater problem when it comes to the Vatican seeming to have capitulated to the CCP.

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FIRST AMERICAN ELECTED PONTIFF, GET TO KNOW POPE LEO XIV

Pope Francis greets the people of China as he concludes Mass in the Hun Theatre in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Sept. 3, 2023. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

Following the agreement, the Vatican additionally agreed to drop its support for the underground Catholic network, which has existed in China for decades and has supported millions of Catholics in the country.  

According to Shea, the CCP essentially “tricked” the Vatican because it simultaneously, in what she believes was an unbeknownst move to Parolin, banned children from being allowed in the Catholic Church — this ban included important sacraments of the church like baptisms, holy communion and confirmations.

The ban effectively blocks the continuation of the Catholic Church in China.

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“The underground, even during the harshest period under Mao, carried out this education and evangelization,” Shea said. “Without being able to perpetuate itself, the Catholic Church in China could die out in a couple generations.”

“It’s a campaign to create an atheist society,” she added. 

The Vatican did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions over whether Pope Leo will adhere to the agreement with the CCP or look to forge a new one.

A man looks on in a Catholic church in Zhuozhou, China’s northern Hebei province, on April 22. (Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images)

TAIWAN EYES VATICAN-CHINA TIES AFTER POPE FRANCIS’ DEATH

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But in his first homily on Friday since being made leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo highlighted the church’s fight against rising atheism.

“There are many settings in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman. This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism,” he said. “These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied.”

The pope said, for this reason, “missionary outreach is desperately needed.”

Pope Leo warned that a “lack of faith” has led to not only a “loss of meaning in life” for many, but also “the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.”

Pope Francis appoints U.S.-born cardinal, prelate prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Robert Francis Prevost during the Ordinary Public Consistory for the Creation of new Cardinal at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Sept. 30, 2023. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

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While congratulatory messages were issued by leaders of Catholic and non-Catholic nations alike, China did not issue a similar message upon the pope’s appointment on Thursday.

In a Friday press conference, when asked about the Church’s new leader, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, “We hope that under the leadership of the new pope, the Vatican will continue to have dialogue with China in a constructive spirit, have in-depth communication on international issues of mutual interest, jointly advance the continuous improvement of the China-Vatican relations and make contributions to world peace, stability, development and prosperity.” 

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Google puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push

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Google puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is deepening a push into enterprise software, signaling to investors at Google’s annual ​cloud conference that AI agents — human-like digital assistants — are a lynchpin of its strategy to monetize artificial intelligence.
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Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report

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Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report

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Some landlords in England are apparently advertising “Muslim-only” apartments online, according to a local media report.

An investigation by The Telegraph found that alleged listings posted in London on Facebook, Gumtree and Telegram feature phrases such as “only for Muslims,” “for 2 Muslim boys or 2 Muslim girls,” and “Muslims preferred.”

Other ads appeal to Punjabi and Gujarati speakers, while some job vacancies on the platforms are advertised for men only.

Some listings specify “Hindu only,” in addition to posts that likely use religious subtext by stating: “The house should be alcohol and smoke-free.”

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IS MAMDANI’S SOCIALIST PUSH FOR RENT CONTROLS ABOUT TO WRECK THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSING MARKET?

On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” “one double room is available for Muslims,” and “suitable for Punjabi boy.” A Meta spokesman told Fox News Digital that Facebook then removed the company’s page “for violating the platform’s policies on discriminatory practices.”

Apartment buildings in Westminster, London, U.K. (John Keeble/Getty Images)

The ads run afoul of Britain’s Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination based on religion or belief, race and other protected characteristics.

“These adverts are disgusting and anti-British. It goes without saying that there would be a national outrage if the tables were turned,” Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s economic spokesman, told The Telegraph. “All forms of racism are unacceptable, and no religious group should get a special exemption to discriminate in this way.”

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Houses and properties line Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, London, U.K. Some landlords in the city are illegally advertising for “Muslim only” tenants across the city, an investigation by The Telegraph has found. (Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images)

One landlord told The Telegraph to “go away” when asked about an ad for a “Muslims only” room for $1,150, and whether it was available to renters of other faiths.

A spokesperson for Gumtree told the newspaper that the company has clear policies in place that prohibit unlawful discrimination.

On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“We take reports of inappropriate listings very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “The ads referenced appear to relate to private rooms within shared homes, where existing occupants may express preferences about who they live with. This is different from renting out an entire property, which is subject to stricter rules under the Equality Act.”

Telegram did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?

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Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?

Europe’s critical raw materials crisis has a partial answer sitting in the waste stream — but the continent has been too slow to see it.

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Dorota Włoch, CEO of Eneris Surowce, was direct: recycling is no longer optional.

Unlike plastics, metals can be recovered and reused indefinitely, making urban mining — the recovery of raw materials from existing products and waste — increasingly valuable, particularly for batteries.

“From recycling, we recover metallic aluminium and so-called black mass, which is a concentrate of metals, mainly cobalt-nickel. These are some of the most valuable battery metals. And batteries are crucial today, not only in the automotive sector, but also in storing energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar,” she said.

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‘Europe is 25 years late’

Włoch put the scale of the problem plainly. “Deposits are critical — any machine can be bought, but natural resources are not. They are non-transferable and non-renewable. If we use them, they simply disappear,” she said.

Europe’s belated recognition of that reality has cost it dearly.

“The regulation of critical raw materials came 25 years after other regions of the world had invested heavily in deposits. Europe was too passive. Today we are catching up, but the regulations are often so demanding that countries like Poland have difficulty implementing them.”

Who benefits most from extraction?

Poland holds significant reserves of raw materials critical to the modern economy, such as copper, coking coal, nickel, platinum group metals, helium, rhenium, lead and silver.

But the minerals needed most for the energy transition, such as lithium, cobalt and graphite, exist only in limited quantities, forcing imports.

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Arkadiusz Kustra, dean of the faculty of civil engineering and resource management at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, told a panel at the European Economic Congress that awareness of the full supply chain, and who profits from it, was now essential.

He pointed to Serbia as a case study.

“Serbia has lithium deposits and is already in talks with Mercedes or Stellantis,” he said. Belgrade is using that leverage to attract investment in battery factories and car plants, keeping more of the value chain at home.

The goal, Kustra argued, should be regional supply chains that retain added value locally.

“You can earn the least at the beginning and the most from the end customer,” he said.

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The bigger obstacle is Chinese dominance.

“Margins in critical raw materials largely go to the Chinese, who control more than 90% of processing and trading, even though they do not own most of the deposits,” he said.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo — among the world’s most resource-rich countries — Chinese entities control around 90% of deposits.

The panel also pointed to growing interest in new supply partnerships, with Poland eyeing assets in the Congo region and the Americas.

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