What’s new: Beijing is willing to improve ties with the Vatican, the Chinese foreign ministry said this week, after the Holy See’s top diplomat expressed its desire to establish a “stable presence” in China.
“China is ready to work with the Vatican for the steady improvement of relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a daily briefing Wednesday.
The remarks came after Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said a stable presence could increase and deepen Sino-Vatican contacts, adding that “this is our goal,” when speaking at an event at in Rome on Tuesday, according to a report from the Vatican News.
The two sides have maintained engagement and increased understanding and trust in recent years, Wang said at the Wednesday briefing. He did not directly address whether China would allow the Vatican to open an office in Beijing without a full diplomatic relationship being established.
The Vatican is among a dozen countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
What’s more: Parolin’s speech was given at a conference celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first and only Council of the Chinese Catholic Church, the Concilium Sinense.
Pope Francis said that the church can take inspiration from the council to “suggest new roads to the whole Church, and open paths to be taken boldly in order to proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel in the present” in a video message addressed to the event, according to a transcript released by the Vatican.
Bishop of Shanghai Shen Bin also spoke at the event, stating that the Catholic Church in China should “follow a path of sinicization that aligns with today’s Chinese society and culture,” the Vatican News report said.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)
