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Pope Benedict XVI greets pilgrims.

Vatican lists conditions for ties with

China

Posted in China , Religion and Politics | 01-Nov-05

ROME - Pope Benedict's top diplomat said on
Tuesday the Holy See was always ready to end
relations with Taiwan and return its embassy to
Beijing but that China must respect religious freedom
and treat the Vatican fairly.
"We have said many times that it (Taiwan) is not an
obstacle," said Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican
Secretary of State, adding the Vatican was ready to
start dialogue at any time.

"I have said many times that if we had contacts with
Beijing, our charge d'affaires who is in Taiwan would
go to Beijing, not tomorrow morning, but tonight," he
told reporters on the sidelines of a university event.

China has had no diplomatic ties with the Vatican since 1951, two years after the Communist takeover.

Beijing has insisted that diplomatic ties cannot be resumed unless Rome first severs links with Taiwan,
which Beijing considers a renegade province.

But Sodano said the Vatican wants freedom for Catholics in China and to be allowed to re-open its
embassy in Beijing with no conditions attached.

"The Holy See cannot be treated worse than other states. When other states ended their relations with
Taiwan they moved immediately to Beijing. Why can't the Holy See, if it ends its contacts with Taiwan,
go immediately to Beijing?" Sodano said.

This was an apparent reference to China's accusations that the Vatican wants to interfere in its internal
affairs.

China refuses to allow the Vatican to appoint bishops and it refuses to allow Catholics to recognise the
authority of the Pope.

Instead, Chinese Catholics must belong to a state-backed church known as the Catholic Patriotic
Association.

The Vatican estimates it has about 8 million followers in China who worship in the "underground
Church", compared with some 5 million who follow the state-backed association.

READY FOR TALKS

"The Holy See has always said we are ready for dialogue, ready for contacts, ready to explain its
traditions but we have to always insist that the Church is one, in the entire world, in all cultures," he said.

"Governments do not have the right to tell men and women how they have to live their faith. This is the
right of religious freedom for all people ..." he said.

Senegal switched relations from Taiwan to China earlier on Tuesday, meaning the Vatican is one of just
25 states, most Third World countries in Africa, Latin America and the South Pacific, that maintain
diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

China and Taiwan, officially called the Republic of China, have been political rivals since the end of the
Chinese civil war in 1949. Each accuses the other of using "dollar diplomacy", or soft loans and other
economic incentives, to win allies.

China's communist government refused to allow four bishops from China to attend a synod at the Vatican
that ended last Sunday.

For three weeks four empty seats were kept in the hall where the prelates met to remind the more than
250 other bishops of their absence.

In his homily closing the synod, Pope Benedict said he was sure that the suffering of the Chinese Church
"will not remain fruitless". Reuters