President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday he is “looking forward” to his first visit to the Vatican as president to attend Pope Francis’ inaugural Mass.
“The Vatican is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Europe and this visit has been named ‘Ching Yi (慶誼),’ meaning the celebration of the two countries’ solid diplomatic ties over the past 71 years,” Ma said on his Facebook page.
Ma said he is looking forward to the visit, during which he will congratulate Pope Francis in person on his election to the papacy and convey the Taiwanese people’s heartfelt gratitude and best wishes to the Holy See.
Ma said he visited the Vatican in a whirlwind trip in 1997 and went back again in 1999 in his capacity as Taipei mayor. Ma said he is from a Catholic family and that as a child, he frequently went to the Catholic church in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) with his grandmother.
When he was in college, he learned French and English from a Catholic priest and nun, he said.
Larry Wang (王豫元), the nation’s ambassador to the Vatican, said Ma is the first Republic of China (ROC) president invited to attend a papal investiture. The invitation reflects the close relations between Taiwan and the Vatican, and their shared values such as mercy, humanitarianism and peace, Wang said.
He said Taiwan and the Vatican have worked together on many humanitarian missions and that when Taiwan needed help, such as during the devastating earthquake in 1999 and the Typhoon Morakot disaster in 2009, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI respectively expressed concern and conveyed condolences to those affected.
Pope Benedict XVI also donated US$50,000 to Taiwan in the wake of the Morakot disaster, Wang said.
The Vatican is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Europe. The two countries have maintained diplomatic ties since 1942, with religious, academic and cultural exchanges and mutual recognition of each other’s university and college degrees.
When Benedict XVI’s predecessor, pope John Paul II, died in April 2005, then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) made a rare visit to the Vatican to attend the funeral.
Former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) also made a visit to the Vatican in July 2003 to attend Pope John Paul II’s 25th anniversary as the leader of the Catholic Church.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
RSS