Worshipers at Masses in Hong Kong and Taiwan yesterday were largely upbeat about a new deal between China and the Vatican, despite fears Beijing is trying to increase control over the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), the outspoken former bishop of Hong Kong, accused Vatican officials of “selling out” ahead of Saturday’s agreement and in a blog post shortly after the announcement he raised concern over its impact.
“What will the government say to Catholics in China? ‘Obey us, the Holy See is already in agreement with us?’” the cardinal wrote.
Photo: Daniel Shih, AFP
Comments on social media accused the Vatican of turning a blind eye to a “silent cultural revolution” in China, where churches have been destroyed in recent months and there has been a clampdown on Bible sales.
However, churchgoers in Hong Kong gave the deal a cautious welcome.
A parishioner who gave her name as Teresa at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Hong Kong said: “More contact is positive,” adding that she was not worried warming ties between Beijing and the Vatican would lead to interference in the territory’s Catholic churches.
Photo: Daniel Shih, AFP
Another who gave her name as Nikki said: “Any cooperation between the two sides has to be a good thing, as long as it’s equal cooperation.”
In Taiwan, some worshipers worried the new deal meant the nation would lose its only official ally in Europe.
Online comments on the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) Facebook page accused the Vatican of “dealing with the devil,” but churchgoers remained confident.
“I think the pope’s consideration in signing the agreement is to promote religious freedom rather than establishing diplomatic relations with China, so there is no need to politicize him,” said parishioner Yuan Shi-min at Our Lady of Fatima in Taipei.
China’s 12 million Catholics are divided between a state-run association whose clergy are chosen by the government and an unofficial church that swears allegiance to the pope.
The agreement struck on Saturday was aimed at resolving a decades-old dispute over who gets to name Catholic bishops in China, and could lead to a rapprochement for the first time since diplomatic ties were severed in 1951.
Shortly after the deal was announced, Pope Francis recognized seven clergy appointed by Beijing.
China’s state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association yesterday reaffirmed its loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party, while welcoming the deal.
The Catholic Church in China said it would “persevere to walk a path suited to a socialist society, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.”
It “deeply loved the motherland” and “sincerely endorsed” the agreement, hoping relations between China and the Vatican would improve further, it added in comments on its Web site.
Additional reporting by Reuters
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS