CHINA / National
Terms set for normal ties with Vatican
By Wu Jiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-26 06:49
The Vatican must sever "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan and stop
interfering in China's internal affairs if it wants to normalize ties
with Beijing, a leading Chinese Catholic leader said yesterday.
The Vatican is the only government in Europe to recognize Taiwan and
wants Beijing to grant the Pope supreme authority to appoint bishops on
the mainland.
China sees the Vatican's stance as interference in the country's internal
affairs, Liu Bainian, vice-president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic
Association (CCPA), said.
His remarks were in response to a report in the Italian daily, La
Repubblica, on Tuesday that quoted him as saying he "strongly hopes to be
able to see the Pope one day in Beijing to celebrate Mass for us Chinese".
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The report has been widely cited by international news agencies, but Liu
said it had ignored the preconditions he had set.
"What I meant was I hoped the Pope could visit China and celebrate Mass
but only after normalization of diplomatic ties," Liu told China Daily.
"If the two issues can be resolved properly, the two sides will have
favorable conditions to improve ties."
Liu's remarks came on the sidelines of a Catholic assembly in Beijing
yesterday that was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of CCPA.
The Chinese Catholic society has vowed to adhere to independent selection
and ordination of bishops and management of its churches.
Liu Bainian
"Without independence, the Chinese Catholic society would not have been
reborn," he said.
The Chinese Catholic society is independent from the Vatican only in
politics and economic policies. But in religious belief, Chinese
Catholicism is the same as Catholicism elsewhere in the world, he said.
China today has about 5 million Catholics compared to 2.7 million in
1958, according to official figures.
More than 200 Catholic representatives, heads of other religions and
government officials attended yesterday's meeting.
Ji Jianhong, chairman of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee of
the Protestant Churches of China, said: "Patriotism and religious belief
are consistent in the Bible. Independence in religious operation has been
a part of national sovereignty and the core of patriotism and religious
belief."
(China Daily 07/26/2007 page1)
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