Pope Francis arrived in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, to celebrate the centenary of the country’s independence.

Pope Francis has recognized all the remaining bishops who were ordained in China in recent years without the pope's approval.

In a historic breakthrough, the Holy See has signed today, Sept. 22, “a provisional agreement” with China on the appointment of bishops.

He is the second pope to visit these Baltic nations. John Paul II came to the region in September 1993, after the collapse of communism, and was welcomed as a hero. Pope Francis comes exactly 25 years later, but much has changed since that first papal visit.

A Vatican source confirmed that a high-level Holy See delegation will travel to the Chinese capital for the signing and that a date has already been fixed for this ground-breaking event.

Since dropping his bombshell letter, the archbishop has gone into hiding, making intermittent statements to those news outlets who share his opposition to Francis.

It will be the pope’s fourth visit to Asia, the continent where he foresees growth for the Catholic Church in the 21st century.

The Feb. 21-24, 2019 meeting is believed to be the first of its kind.

The cardinal council members said that they were aware the Holy See “is formulating the eventual and necessary clarifications” to the Viganò documents among other recent events.

“If the church shows itself to be incapable of responding with all its heart...all our other activities of evangelization will feel it.”