In an hour-long interview with the Asia Times, Pope Francis spoke about his general impressions of China as well as his hope that the Chinese people will be able to work together with other countries to bring about greater peace and prosperity. In particular, the Pope advised against fear of China’s growth as an emerging economy on the world stage. “Fear is not a good counselor,” Francis said. “If a father and a mother are fearful when they have an adolescent son, they will not know how to deal with him well. In other words, we must not fear challenges of any kind, since everyone, male and female, has within them the capacity to find ways of co-existing, of respect and mutual admiration.” Francis also remarked that China’s growth should come as no surprise, since all cultures and civilizations with something important to share tend to expand. It is obvious, he said, “that so much culture and so much wisdom, and in addition, so much technical knowledge – we have only to think of age-old medicinal techniques – cannot remain enclosed within a country; they tend to expand, to spread, to communicate.” “Man tends to communicate, a civilization tends to