Only a few hours separated the election of Pope Francis on March 13, 2013, from that of Xi Jinping as president of the People's Republic of China the next day. Because the Vatican maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and Beijing expelled the apostolic nuncio in 1951, the two men never met. However, the Argentine pope never made a secret of his desire to draw closer to Beijing. Visiting South Korea in October 2014, he was authorized to fly over Chinese airspace, a license that John Paul II had not received in 1999, during the previous visit of a pope to Asia. On this occasion, Francis sent a radio message to Xi Jinping. "Upon entering Chinese airspace, I extend my best wishes to your excellency and your fellow citizens, and I invoke divine blessings of peace and well being upon the nation."

On the return flight, an Italian journalist asked him: "Do you want to go to China?" Francis replied: "Of course: tomorrow! Oh, yes. We respect the Chinese people; it is just that the Church seeks freedom for her mission, for her work; no other condition."

On "two or three occasions," according to Benoît Vermander, a Jesuit who teaches philosophy at Fudan University in Shanghai, the pope tried to meet Xi. To no avail. On September 14, 2022, the two men even found themselves in the capital of Kazakhstan at the same time, the former to take part in an interfaith summit, the latter for an official visit. But they didn't meet.

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