Taiwan is hoping the latest extension of a provisional agreement on bishop appointments between the Holy See and China would help promote religious freedom on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
On Tuesday, the Holy See and China extended the Provisional Agreement on the Appointment of Bishops for another four years. The agreement, first signed in 2018, had been extended twice: in 2020 and 2022.
“In light of the consensus reached for an effective application of the Provisional Agreement regarding the Appointment of Bishops, after appropriate consultation and assessment, the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China have agreed to extend further its validity for four years from the present date,” the Vatican said in a statement.
Photo: Taipei Times file
“The Vatican Party remains dedicated to furthering the respectful and constructive dialogue with the Chinese Party, in view of the further development of bilateral relations for the benefit of the Catholic Church in China and the Chinese people as a whole,” it said.
The agreement allows the pope to have the final say on the appointment of bishops in China, a key provision for the Vatican in its desire to mitigate Beijing’s influence on Catholic churches.
Asked to comment on the latest extension, MOFA said in a statement yesterday that Taiwan, which respects religious freedom, hopes the accord “will help reverse the increasing deterioration of religious freedom in China.”
Despite the Vatican’s wish to improve religious freedom in China with the 2018 agreement, “the Chinese government has stepped up measures to persecute local Catholic communities as religious freedom and human rights continue to deteriorate in China,” the ministry said.
“Many bishops and other clergy have been forced to join the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, with many Chinese Catholics facing formidable challenges to both their consciences and freedom of belief,” the ministry said.
However, a Vatican-based expert familiar with Holy See-China relations said the ongoing agreement has resulted in China revising its hardcore stance in insisting that foreign forces cannot interfere with Chinese clergies.
“In the past, the CCP has always insisted that clergy should not be controlled and interfered by foreign forces,” the expert said under condition of anonymity.
“But now there is concrete evidence showing that Beijing has softened the stance and that the pope has the final say on the appointment of Chinese bishops,” the expert said.
The CCP’s churches and bishops are now moving toward communion with the universal church, breaking the CCP’s past iron law of religious autonomy, the unnamed expert said.
The expert was referring to the period prior to the first agreement in 2018, when only clandestine churches would pledge loyalty to the pope. Under the deal, state churches could recognize the pontiff as the supreme leader of the church.
The deal was seen as a breakthrough at the time, with some people speculating that it could lead to the Vatican formally recognizing Beijing diplomatically and threaten Taiwan’s official ties with the Holy See.
The Holy See is one of 12 sovereign entities that maintain full diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
It is also the only European state to do so, although its relations with Beijing have warmed under the leadership of Pope Francis.
MOFA yesterday said it would closely monitor related developments and continue to work with the Holy See and the Catholic Church to enhance humanitarian cooperation and jointly safeguard the core value of religious freedom.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS