Archbishop Desmond Tutu has urged the Pope to reconsider his decision not to meet the Dalai Lama.
Pope Francis was invited to attend a gathering of Nobel laureates in Rome last week but declined and instead sent a video message.
In a statement Archbishop Tutu said he recognised there was a diplomatic dilemma for the Vatican as it is keen to improve its troubled relationships with China.
But he said he was “deeply saddened and distressed” that Pope Francis should “give in” to these pressures.
Archbishop Tutu, himself a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, did not attend the gathering because he is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
But he said he would have boycotted meeting the Pope in solidarity with the Dalai Lama.
The Vatican said last week: "Pope Francis obviously holds the Dalai Lama in very high regard but he will not be meeting any of the Nobel laureates."
Reports suggested that the Vatican did not want to provoke the Chinese authorities for fear of repercussions for the country's Catholic community.
“It’s a delicate time,” the Holy See spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, said
The Tibetan exile said he would have been "very happy" to meet Francis but had been told by a Vatican official that it was not possible because "it could cause inconveniences".
The Nobel conference was scheduled to be held in South Africa but was moved after the Government there refused to issue the Dalai Lama a visa.
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