Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) has been appointed by President William Lai (賴清德) as a special envoy to attend the inauguration of the newly elected Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican on Sunday, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
The Presidential Office said in a statement it had issued an order on Wednesday evening naming Chen as the nation’s envoy to attend the new pope’s inaugural Mass to be held in St Peter’s Square.
Pope Leo XIV was elected on Thursday last week as the 267th head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Holy See, Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Europe, to succeed Pope Francis, who passed away in his residence on April 21 at the age of 88.
Photo: CNA
Pope Leo XIV, 69, is the first pope from the US.
Chen served as Lai’s envoy at the funeral of Pope Francis held in St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on April 25.
The Vatican is one of 12 states in the world to have formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC), and past ROC presidents have taken part in key papal events with other world leaders.
For example, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) attended the papal inauguration of Pope Francis in 2013, and Ma’s predecessor, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005.
The Holy See and Beijing do not have diplomatic relations, but the two sides signed an agreement on the appointment of bishops in China in 2018 that has since been renewed twice.
On his X page, Lai congratulated Pope Leo XIV on May 9 for his election, saying: “We look forward to building on our diplomatic ties with the Holy See, 83 years strong, to advance peace, justice, solidarity & benevolence.”
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the choice of Chen Chien-jen as Lai’s showcases interactions between Taiwan and the Vatican and their bilateral friendship.
The former vice president has a close relationship with the Holy See, the ministry said. He was appointed an academician of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 2021. He has also been invested as a Knight of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St Gregory the Great in 2013 and a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 2010 by the Vatican.
Neither the ministry nor the Presidential Office elaborated on why Lai will not attend the event in person.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS