Pope Francis has made the "unity of Christians in China" his prayer intention for the month of March.

In a new " Pope Video " released by his worldwide prayer network, the Apostleship of Prayer , Pope Francis urges Chinese Catholics to be “truly Christians” and “good citizens” who promote the Gospel, but without engaging in proselytism.

The Pope also invites all people to pray “that the Church in China may persevere in its faithfulness to the Gospel and grow in unity”.

Pope Francis has releases a video with a prayer intention for each month.

China is much on his mind at present, not only because of coronavirus, but because of divisions in the Vatican and the wider church over the Holy See's policy. The retired Hong Kong Cardinal Zen has in a recent letter claimed Pope Francis is being manipulated over China. He is particularly concerned about the deal between the Vatican and China, where the Catholic church had long been divided between the underground church loyal to Rome and the state-sponsored patriotic church.

Speaking to The Tablet last month, Lord Patten of Barnes, former governor of Hong Kong, added his voice to those critical of the deal, saying he beieves the Vatican has “got it badly wrong about China” in its efforts at rapprochement with the administration of Xi Jingping. Lord Patten said: “Of course I am in favour of them trying to do what they can to make it easier for Catholics and Christians to worship in China. I just think this was an extraordinary time to be doing this with an administration in China which has gone back on human rights – which is making things tougher on human rights. That is what Xi Jingping has been doing.”

It has become the custom of Pope Francis to release a video message detailing his prayer intention for each month.

The full text of his intention from the short video focuses on trying to end divisions.

Pope Francis says: "Today, the Church in China looks to the future with hope. The Church wants Chinese Christians to be truly Christians, and to be good citizens. They should promote the Gospel, but without engaging in proselytism, and they need to achieve the unity of the divided Catholic community.

"Let us pray together that the Church in China may persevere in its faithfulness to the Gospel and grow in unity."