ROME, Jul 24, 01 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has asked the United States to help it open direct lines of communication with the Communist government of China, sources told Reuters news service on Monday.
According to the report, the request was made during a meeting between US President George W. Bush and Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State. "Given the United States' privileged position in relations with China, both economic and political, Sodano asked Bush to help convince China to open up a channel of communications with the Vatican," the source told Reuters.
The meeting included Bush and his national security adviser Condoleezza Rice on the U.S. side and Cardinal Sodano and Foreign Minister Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran on the Vatican side.
Briefing reporters later, Rice said Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell had spoken with the Vatican leaders about the issue of Catholic bishops who have been arrested in China. "The president is going to raise the issue with the Chinese. He is more than happy to raise the issue of religious freedom as well as issues as to how relations between the Vatican and China might be made better," she said.
The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations including the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which eschews any connections to the Vatican or the Pope. Many Catholics worship in churches that, while openly loyal to the government association, secretly pledge allegiance to the Pope. In recent years, dozens of Chinese bishops, priests, and laymen have been arrested for practicing their faith.
CWN - Catholic World News
24. juli 2001