Well that didn't take long
Breaking news headline of today's South China Morning Post Online:
"Stay out of politics, Beijing warns Zen"
The first two paragraphs then read:
The warning was delivered at a regular press briefing given by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao who is quoted as saying, "The Catholic Church has always advocated that religious figures should not interfere with politics. We believe the Catholic circles in Hong Kong can value and protect stability, development and harmony in Hong Kong."
Another Mr. Liu, vice chairman of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, spoke positively about Bishop Zen's elevation, though he cautioned that any potential meetings between Zen and Mainland Catholic officials would be "unofficial" with real diplomatic negotiations being between the governments of the PRC and the Vatican (you know, over the Taiwan issue).
The Standard has this story, similar to most you will read, but with some expanded quotes from the Mr. Liu of the Foreign Ministry and this interesting line about Bishop Zen:
Here's an article out of Taiwan, which is the first place I have read that Zen says the Vatican is ready simply to switch diplomatic relations from Taiwan to the PRC (what huh?) I had discussed this a few months back, and it seems this is still a great topic of speculation. Oddly enough, I am having difficulty finding anything on Taiwan's Central News Agency website about this. Not surprisingly, Xinhua (PRC's official news agency) has nothing about Bishop Zen either. Randy says that he has heard nothing about Zen being a Cardinal-to-be except from me. That isn't too surprising, though, considering his TV news comes from CNN International and BBC International, as filtered by the Chinese censors. I hope John Allen has more about this tomorrow, because Friday is Word From Rome Day.
And this may be a coincidence, and it may not be, but Reuters is just now reporting that on February 17 two "underground" priests in Hebei province were detained and are still in custody.
And since we have yet to finalize the dates of our trip to China, the prospect of witnessing this is truly exciting. I mean, a Steelers Super Bowl AND a big Chinese Catholic Cardinal Party all in one year!
"Stay out of politics, Beijing warns Zen"
The first two paragraphs then read:
The Foreign Ministry yesterday warned Hong Kong's Catholic leader Joseph Zen Ze-kiun not to interfere in politics, a day after he was named cardinal.
But a top mainland religious affairs official welcomed an offer by the cardinal-designate to visit the mainland for talks, and urged him to contribute to rebuilding Sino-Vatican relations.
The warning was delivered at a regular press briefing given by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao who is quoted as saying, "The Catholic Church has always advocated that religious figures should not interfere with politics. We believe the Catholic circles in Hong Kong can value and protect stability, development and harmony in Hong Kong."
Another Mr. Liu, vice chairman of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, spoke positively about Bishop Zen's elevation, though he cautioned that any potential meetings between Zen and Mainland Catholic officials would be "unofficial" with real diplomatic negotiations being between the governments of the PRC and the Vatican (you know, over the Taiwan issue).
The Standard has this story, similar to most you will read, but with some expanded quotes from the Mr. Liu of the Foreign Ministry and this interesting line about Bishop Zen:
Zen privately told some people previously that he did not want to become cardinal because it would mean checking his tendency to be vocal, especially when dealing with Beijing.Zen has also been quoted as saying that he is too old to change his ways.
Here's an article out of Taiwan, which is the first place I have read that Zen says the Vatican is ready simply to switch diplomatic relations from Taiwan to the PRC (what huh?) I had discussed this a few months back, and it seems this is still a great topic of speculation. Oddly enough, I am having difficulty finding anything on Taiwan's Central News Agency website about this. Not surprisingly, Xinhua (PRC's official news agency) has nothing about Bishop Zen either. Randy says that he has heard nothing about Zen being a Cardinal-to-be except from me. That isn't too surprising, though, considering his TV news comes from CNN International and BBC International, as filtered by the Chinese censors. I hope John Allen has more about this tomorrow, because Friday is Word From Rome Day.
And this may be a coincidence, and it may not be, but Reuters is just now reporting that on February 17 two "underground" priests in Hebei province were detained and are still in custody.
And since we have yet to finalize the dates of our trip to China, the prospect of witnessing this is truly exciting. I mean, a Steelers Super Bowl AND a big Chinese Catholic Cardinal Party all in one year!
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