Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set for two events this week regarding religious freedom, and what can be expected as opportunities for him to assert his concern for “unalienable rights” as the chance to blame China and other target nations. On Sept.30, he will deliver remarks to the Holy See Symposium on Advancing and Defending Religious Freedom through Diplomacy. He will speak from the U.S. Embassy in Italy, which is a stop on his Sept. 27-Oct. 2 tour, which will also include Greece and Croatia.
On Oct. 3, in Florida, Pompeo will keynote the Family Policy Council fundraiser in Orlando. Tickets are said to be $10,000 “for a personal visit with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,” according to the group’s promotional. The Family Policy Council is associated with Family Research Council, whose president Tony Perkins interviewed Pompeo last week at the time of the FRC’s Values Voter Summit. Other associated groups are Focus on the Family, and Alliance Defending Freedom.
In 2019, Pompeo founded the Commission on Unalienable Rights, appointing as Chairman Mary Ann Glendon, who was formerly U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, and also a former Harvard University mentor of his. When the Commission issued its report July 16, 2020, the two spoke at the ceremony in Philadelphia, and singled out China as violating religious freedom.
