The shopping I am doing to celebrate Christmas seems to lead inevitably to products manufactured in China, where, the Vatican reminds us in a strongly worded statement issued Friday, there is "intransigent intolerance" for religions lacking state approval.The statement follows reports that Roman Catholic bishops and priests were forced - literally dragged by police - into attending a convocation of the state-run Catholic Patriotic Association, which the Vatican does not recognize. It says:

This was imposed on numerous Bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful. The manner in which it was convoked and its unfolding manifest a repressive attitude with regard to the exercise of religious liberty, which it was hoped had been consigned to the past in present-day China. The persistent desire to control the most intimate area of citizens lives, namely their conscience, and to interfere in the internal life of the Catholic Church does no credit to China. On the contrary, it seems to be a sign of fear and weakness rather than of strength; of intransigent intolerance rather than of openness to freedom and to effective respect both of human dignity and of a correct distinction between the civil and religious spheres.

This is of course part of a larger story about systemic abuse of human rights in China - overlooked by nations as they seek to sell their wares there ... and by me, as well, as I do my Christmas shopping.