President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday extended his congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost on his election as the new leader of the Catholic Church, saying Taiwan looked forward to collaborating with the Vatican on promoting peace, justice, religious freedom, unity and human dignity.
“We look forward to building on our diplomatic ties with the Holy See, 83 years strong, to advance peace, justice, solidarity and benevolence,” Lai wrote in English on X.
The Vatican is one of only 12 UN member states that have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Lee via CNA
While Lai did not attend the funeral of Pope Francis last month, he was represented by former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), a Catholic.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Lai had instructed Taiwan’s embassy in the Vatican to deliver congratulatory messages to Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, shortly after the conclusion of the papal conclave.
Taiwan and the Holy See have maintained close diplomatic relations for 83 years, the ministry said, adding that the government remains committed to strengthening bilateral ties.
The ministry did not confirm whether Lai would attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration. In 2013, then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) attended the inauguration of Pope Francis.
Taiwan’s embassy to the Vatican on Thursday shared a photo of outgoing Ambassador Matthew Lee (李世明) shaking hands with Prevost at a Vatican event in 2023. Leo, 69, is the first American to lead the Catholic Church.
Lee, who was to retire yesterday after serving as Taiwan’s ambassador to the Holy See since 2015, said he expects ties with the Vatican to further improve under Leo.
He said that Leo understands the distinction between democratic Taiwan and communist China — a perspective he believes would benefit Taiwan-Vatican ties.
Lee said he was particularly impressed by Leo during their meeting on Sept. 30, 2023, when he congratulated him on being named a cardinal by Francis.
After telling the newly appointed cardinal which country he represented, Prevost immediately acknowledged Taiwan and thanked him for the well wishes, Lee said.
Following the election of Leo, Anthony Ho (賀忠義) is set to take over as ambassador to the Holy See.
Lee reflected on the 12-year papacy of Francis — who he knew while serving as Taiwan’s representative to Argentina from 2011 to 2014 — saying that the Vatican’s 2018 provisional agreement with Beijing, which gave the pontiff the final say on the appointment of bishops in China, was an attempt to promote religious freedom and reinforce papal oversight of the Catholic Church there.
However, Lee said that Beijing had prevented Chinese bishops from attending Francis’ funeral, calling it a “cold response” that has raised concerns within the church.
Leo is “the second Roman pontiff from the Americas, after Pope Francis,” and spent many years as a missionary in Peru before being appointed in 2023 to lead the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, a biography released by Vatican News on Thursday said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS