Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in scheduling his U.S. visit, seems to have fallen into a trap common for many communist leaders: underestimating papal power. Xi will be following in the footsteps of Pope Francis on visits first to the White House in Washington, and then to the United Nations in New York. The Roman pontiff, dubbed a “rock star” by some commentators, is already grabbing the limelight in a media frenzy during his visit. The first official state visit of the new Chinese president, meanwhile, which roughly coincides with the first American visit of this widely popular pope, promises to be largely overshadowed as a result. Xi is very likely to come and go with very few Americans even being aware that he was here at all.

Xi, who landed in Seattle Tuesday, will arrive in Washington on Thursday, just as Pope Francis will be heading to New York after making history as the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. The next morning, as Xi prepares to arrive on the South Lawn of the White House for a 21-gun salute, most television cameras will be focused again on Pope Francis delivering remarks to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. And when Xi approaches that same U.N. podium in New York on the following Monday, he will again be in the shadow of Pope Francis, who will have already come and gone.