fter decades of hostility, can two of the world's most opaque organisations start anew or is this path doomed to fail? A scramble for control and power within the churches serving China's estimated 12 million Catholics has kept relations between the Vatican and the "Celestial Empire" fraught for almost 70 years. China's crackdown on religious groups, especially of late, has not gone unnoticed as the Muslim minority Uighurs face life in internment and re-education camps, while Protestant churches are raided and closed down. It therefore comes as no surprise that many are wary about a pact between two of the world's most secretive organisations. An agreement, as launched by the governing Communist Party of China and leaders of the Vatican, provisionally resolves the issue of who gets to appoint bishops within the churches, with Pope Francis insisting on the final say.