Fred Fleitz, former chief of staff of the National Security Council in the Trump administration, told Newsmax on Monday that Pope Francis "should not go to China" after the Pope expressed a desire to visit the country in a recent interview.
Pope Francis, in an interview last Friday with Father Pedro Chia, the director of the press office of the Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus, said that he would "really want to" visit China for an apostolic visit in order to meet bishops and Catholics all across the country.
The Catholic News Agency noted that no Pope has ever visited China, but Francis did travel to neighboring Mongolia last year.
Fleitz told "National Report," "I'm Catholic, and I think Pope Francis is a good man; but he's made many, many serious policy errors as Pope."
He said, "One of them has been appeasing the Chinese Communist Party by going along with its effort to name Catholic bishops in China, which I think is an outrage and really insults many priests and bishops who have suffered for decades through including torture and long term imprisonment because of their faith."
Fleitz added, "The Chinese Communist Party sees religion and Catholicism as a threat to its rule. And I worry that if the Pope goes there, he will be used by the Chinese Communist Party to advance its interests."
He concluded that a papal visit "will not advance the church," and said Francis "should not go to China."
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