It may seem a bit of a leap to go from Chinese propaganda to portraits of the Church’s leadership – though possibly not for leading artist Shen Jiawei, whose paintings of Maoist soldiers became one of the most enduring images of the Communist era 40 years ago. He has been commissioned to produce the first official portrait of Pope Francis. Jiawei has moved on from his Communist days and is now based in Australia where he has painted the country’s first saint, Mary MacKillop, a