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Pope Francis has rejected the label “undemocratic” to describe China’s communist regime, insisting that the issue is too complex to allow for such characterizations.
“I cannot get on board with calling China undemocratic; I won’t do that because it’s such a complex country,” the pontiff told journalists during his return trip from Kazakhstan to Rome Thursday. “Sure, there are things that seem undemocratic to us, that is true.”
“Labeling is difficult and I’m not ready to do that, since they are impressions, so instead I try to support the path of dialogue,” he declared.
“Understanding China takes a century, and we do not live for a century,” the pope said. “The Chinese mentality is a rich mentality, and when it gets a little sick, it loses its richness; it is capable of making mistakes.
