Babrow sued the Vatican City State’s telecommunications office in a Rome court last month, alleging it was wrongfully profiting off her creativity and was violating the original intent of her artwork.
The Vatican has long justified the costs because its communications operations are at the core of the Holy See’s main mission: to communicate the Catholic faith to all corners of the globe.
While May 24 has been celebrated with prayer for and with the church in China every year since 2008, Francis’ message on Sunday comes at the end of a week in which a number of troubling news reports reached the Vatican.