Taiwan’s bishops have travelled to Rome for their first meeting as a conference with the Pope and Holy See officials in a decade.
Their ad limina visit came as plans for a deal between the Vatican and China over the appointment of bishops appear to have stalled. Beijing, which has recently tightened restrictions on religious practice, is reportedly wary of handing power to an outside religious body, while there has been resistance inside the Church to a deal. Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, is said to have told Cardinal Charles Bo of Myanmar, which neighbours China, that negotiations had slowed and Taiwan had expressed concerns. Cardinal Bo was in Rome with Myanmar’s bishops on their own visit last week.
The Holy See is one of 19 states to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Beijing requires countries to sever relations with Taiwan if they wish to have diplomatic ties with China. Given Beijing’s sensitivities over Taiwan, it is likely it was irked by an invitation Taipei’s archbishop planned to give Pope Francis to visit the country. “No Pope ever landed in Taiwan,” Archbishop John Hung said at a diplomatic reception in Rome, adding that Francis should visit the island because its people “have suffered”.
The Jesuit Pope has indicated a desire to travel to China, and during his papacy the Holy See has stepped up efforts to strike a deal with Beijing. In crude political terms the Vatican’s relationship with Taiwan is one of the few bargaining chips it holds in its negotiations with the world’s fastest-growing superpower.
A deal with China could help normalise the situation for Catholics in China who have been divided between those loyal to the underground Church and a group loyal to the state-run Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. But former Hong Kong bishop Cardinal Joseph Zen has warned that a deal according too much power to Beijing would “sell out” underground Catholics.
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