The PRC government also expresses its view that the Catholic Church has not sufficiently apologized for alleged abuses by missionaries and clergy which occurred prior to the establishment of the PRC, some of them, it says, substantiated by international scrutiny. It harshly criticized the canonization in 2000 of 120 Chinese and foreign martyrs in China, beatified much earlier, claiming that many of the non-Chinese among the martyrs had perpetrated abuses and crimes against the Chinese people. It also criticized the Vatican for proceeding with this action without securing Chinese input, and put on the Holy See the blame for the non-existence of the diplomatic channels that would have facilitated input. It made a similar accusation of Holy See unilateralism (which some would interpret instead as Beijing's refusal to distinguish between religion and politics) when Pope Benedict XVI invited four bishops from mainland China – three of whom were government-approved – to the October 2005 assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome.