Taiwan’s relations with the Vatican are unlikely to be affected by upcoming negotiations between the ecclesiastical state and Beijing over an expiring bishop appointment agreement, Archbishop of Taipei Thomas Chung (鍾安住) said.
Chung made the remarks on Saturday in response to media queries after assuming pastoral leadership of the Taipei Archdiocese, which encompasses Taipei, Keelung, New Taipei City and Yilan County.
The Vatican, Taiwan’s only official diplomatic ally in Europe, in 2018 signed a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops with China, which expires in September.
Photo: EPA-EFE
As the Holy See is expected to negotiate for the renewal or advancement of the agreement with Beijing, observers have expressed concerns that Taiwan-Vatican relations could be affected.
Chung said that although the Vatican is concerned with evangelization in China, “in my opinion, this will not affect Taiwan-Vatican relations.”
Chung cited his own selection as the new archbishop of Taipei this year as an indication that Pope Francis treasures the Vatican’s relations with Taiwan.
He also said that Arnaldo Catalan, charge d’affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in Taiwan, who visited Chiayi County last week, was satisfied with the development of churches and religious freedom in Taiwan, and reported his observations to the Holy See.
Chung, 68, was formally installed as Archbishop of Taipei in a rite at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City, after an apostolic letter from Pope Francis announcing his appointment was read out by Catalan.
He replaces John Hung (洪山川), who resigned after reaching the age limit, and is also to serve as the apostolic administrator of Taiwan’s outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu.
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper