Cardinal Parolin: If there was an opening, Pope Francis would go to China

The timing at the moment seems premature, but "if there were openness on the part of the Chinese, the Pope would also go immediately" to China, a land for which he has always shown great appreciation and esteem for its people, history and its culture. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, reiterated Pope Francis' never-hidden desire to one day visit the great and "noble" Asian country. The Cardinal's comments were made Thursday afternoon, 20 June, at Rome's Pontifical Urban University at the presentation of the book "Cardinal Celso Costantini and China - Constructor of a 'bridge' between the East and West-" The volume was edited by Msgr. Bruno Fabio Pighin, an Italian historian and Episcopal Delegate in the postulation of the cause of beatification and canonisation of Cardinal Celso Costantini (1876-1958), the first Apostolic Delegate to China, and published in Italian by Marcianum Press.