Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, has made several unusually candid public statements recently, notes Ed Condon of The Pillar.

The Vatican’s top foreign-affairs official, who has always been circumspect in his public statements, has with the last month made blunt observations about the threat to Church unity posed by the German Synodal Path, the meager gains from the Vatican’s secret agreement with China, and the Pope’s declining health.