VATICAN—Pope Francis met with John Kerry, climate envoy for the Biden Administration, on May 14 after a closed-door conference on “Dreaming of a Better Restart” for the global economy. Kerry will be one of the first U.S. Administration officials to meet with Pope Francis since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first of the Biden Administration. Pope Francis had reportedly refused to meet with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, after Pompeo issued a scathing critique of the Vatican’s China policies prior to his attending a conference on religious freedom sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in November, 2020. The Vatican’s recent human rights record in China may be related to its negotiations with Beijing about the status of the Catholic Church. Reports on the ongoing and secretive Sino-Vatican deal—including statements from leading experts on the matter, such as Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong— include allegations that the …