China warming to Rome, Philippine cardinal says
China warming to Rome, Philippine cardinal says
MANILA (Reuter): China's decision to send clergy and young members of its official Catholic church to the World Youth Day celebrations in Manila marks a warming of relations with Rome, Manila Cardinal Jaime Sin said yesterday.
The Vatican announced on Wednesday that 24 Chinese clergy would come to Manila and Sin said in an interview that at least 40 young people would join them in next week's celebration, at which Pope John Paul would preside.
Relations between China and the Vatican have been frosty since the 1950s, when the communist nation set up its own Catholic Church, the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA), which obeys Beijing and not Rome.
"It seems this spirit of separation is dying out. There will be unity in the long run," predicted Sin, the leading Roman Catholic prelate in the Philippines.
"China is opening to foreign investments, so gradually they will be absorbing all these ideas from Europe and I think in the long run they will naturally allow the cultures of different people to be integrated in China."
But as a result of China's participation, the 150 youth delegates from Taiwan will not be allowed to raise the Taiwanese flag in Manila.
The Philippines recognizes Beijing under its one-China policy, although it also maintains close, if unofficial, links with Taiwan.
"Their only worry is that the other Chinese from the diaspora or maybe Taiwan should not be raising their own flags because there is a policy of one China," said Cardinal Sin.
"That is not a religious problem, it is a political problem, so no raising of flags."
China has warmed towards the Vatican in recent years but continues to insist that formal relations would require the Holy See to break off ties with Taiwan and refrain from what it calls interference in China's internal affairs.
The secretary-general of the CPA, Liu Bainian, was quoted by Asia News as saying he hoped the Chinese delegation would have a private meeting with the 74-year-old Pontiff in Manila.
Liu represents about three million members of the official church. Experts believe some five million Chinese Catholics remain faithful to Rome and face harassment by praying in underground churches.
Apart from the Taiwan issue, other sensitive areas are whether Catholics should obey Rome or Beijing and the Vatican's strong objection to abortion, a state policy in China.
At least 200,000 young Catholics are expected to take part in the youth day celebrations which will climax with a mass and homily by the Pope on Jan. 15.
The pope, who goes on to visit Papua New Guinea, Australia and Sri Lanka, is expected to announce that the next World Youth Day will be held in Paris in 1997, Sin said.