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
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
RSS