Oh, I don't know about that. I've just learned from another thread that the Pope "dragged" then President Clinton into the Balkans. Not to mention that the Holy See is responsible for WWII and the killing of 6 million Jews. Oh, and the Pope "supports" the Saddam Hussein regime with the killing of many innocent Christians and Jews...
As a Catholic, I never knew that our Pope was so powerful politically over sovereign states, including our own President... /tinfoil wrapped sarcasm>
This is exactly right.
Just a reminder to those who may not know the history: the US did not have full diplomatic relations with the Vatican until the Reagan administration. (And even then, some anti-Catholic sorts objected on the grounds of "separation of church and state". Of course, those same people seemed to have no problem with full diplomatic relations between the US and the UK, whose sovereign is officially head of the state church.)
However, the Vatican should not recognize the mainland unless the government agrees to dismantle the "Patriotic" (=schismatic) church and permit Chinese Catholics to be openly in communion with Rome. Otherwise Rome is giving something for nothing.