Qin said Monday that China had "noticed" the Holy See's attitude.

China is always sincere about improving relations with Vatican, Qin said.

"China will continue to hold constructive dialogue with the Holy See," Qin said, and expressed his hope that the "Vatican will make joint efforts with China so that the two sides can meet each other halfway to improve bilateral relations."

Vatican officials earlier explained that Francis' decision stemmed from an attempt to avoid getting involved in the "tensions" between the Tibetan Leader and Beijing, especially at this juncture in which dialogue between China and the Vatican is progressing.

Other media reports simply said the request was declined "for obvious reasons concerning the delicate situation" with China.

The Dalai Lama himself said that the Vatican's decision was "understandable," acknowledging that "for some people I can be a source of trouble."

This past summer, the Tibetan leader expressed his admiration for Francis, saying that he "carries his teaching forward with resolution and transparency."

The Dalai Lama was in Rome for a summit of Nobel Peace Prize winners.

Sources

• Breitbart
• Image: Asian Correspondent

The study, published on "Expansion", shows that unlike the Dalai Lama, almost half of the Holy Father's online content has a 'negative tone' and a 'prejudicial impact'.

The research was carried out using a 'common conceptual model' focussing on three elements: personal image, religious life and communication.

The results show that online videos and social networks give a 'balanced' image of the Dalai Lama, whereas the descriptions of Pope Benedict were "emotional and negative".

Almost half of the content relating to Pope Benedict (48.74%) has a negative tone and prejudicial impact while only 7% was seen as positive. The remaining 44% was judged to be neutral.

The Dalai Lama's qualitative and quantitive results show him to be significantly more popular and the emotional impact of his words were seen to be generally more balanced in favour of positivity.

The picture was no different on the social networks, the Dalai Lama having 4.4m fans across 290 pages and 71 groups on Facebook, compared with Holy Father's 236,000 fans across 154 pages and 62 active groups on Facebook.

In the area of 'active followers', both religious leaders shared some similarity, with Pope Benedict coming out slightly ahead. The Holy Father's active followers are recorded at 1.8%, whereas the Dalai Lama's active following was just 1.7%.

Sources

• Vatican Insider
• Image: Zimbio