In short, Msgr. Nugent’s 2004 China guidelines are an unambiguous and forthright upholding of the Vatican’s 1988 China guidelines. This is precisely what I was requesting in my Open Letter. In the seventh section of my Open Letter, I wrote: “As noted in many of the questions above, this (1988 China guidelines) has been ignored. Have other directives been issued by the Holy See that render this particular directive obsolete? If so, the faithful, especially those in China, have the right to know. If this particular directive has not been rescinded, why has the Holy See not enforced it among members of the hierarchy?” Msgr. Nugent has now clarified this issue.