The Vatican is greeting the visit to Italy of Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week with a new round of overtures and says the "door is always open" to dialogue.

A controversial China-funded dam project in Myanmar must be stopped, said Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, noting that the affected river is the country's most sacred symbol.

The president of China's state-sanctioned bishops' conference has pledged to work with the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association to develop the Sinicization of religion in the communist nation.

The press in China does not make any mention of an impending “trade war”—only trade frictions.

The Vatican appointed a retired China-friendly cardinal to head the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong on Monday.