A Vatican source confirmed that a high-level Holy See delegation will travel to the Chinese capital for the signing and that a date has already been fixed for this ground-breaking event.
Pope Francis, in keeping with his predecessors, has sought every opportunity to improve relations with the Chinese government. With the news that a historic agreement is imminent, the Vatican faces a risk and an opportunity.
China's government is ratcheting up a crackdown on Christian congregations in Beijing and several provinces, destroying crosses, burning bibles, shutting churches and ordering followers to sign papers renouncing their faith, according to pastors and a group that monitors religion in China.
China said Thursday that U.S. lawmakers were wasting taxpayer money by urging President Donald Trump's administration to impose sanctions on Chinese officials allegedly tied to the mass internment of ethnic minority Muslims in camps in the far west.