Chinese Catholics hope for improved ties between state and Vatican
- 11 years ago
Chinese Catholics attend their first Sunday mass since Pope Francis I took the helm of the Roman Catholic Church.
At Beijing's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, worshippers are hopeful the new pope will heal divisions between catholics in China and the state.
China and the Vatican broke off diplomatic ties in 1949 after the Communist Party came to power.
And Chinese Catholics are divided between a church sanctioned by the communist state that has installed bishops without Vatican approval and an "underground" wing.
(SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) RETIRED SOLDIER, MARCO SHAO SAYING:
"China's Catholic church and the new pope in Rome need to work hard together to create a harmonious Catholic Church. There is only one Catholicism. I wish that Catholicism would not be split. What is Chinese Catholicism? There is only one Catholicism."
China's Foreign Ministry earlier this week renewed calls on the Vatican to end diplomatic relations with self-ruled Taiwan -
At Beijing's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, worshippers are hopeful the new pope will heal divisions between catholics in China and the state.
China and the Vatican broke off diplomatic ties in 1949 after the Communist Party came to power.
And Chinese Catholics are divided between a church sanctioned by the communist state that has installed bishops without Vatican approval and an "underground" wing.
(SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) RETIRED SOLDIER, MARCO SHAO SAYING:
"China's Catholic church and the new pope in Rome need to work hard together to create a harmonious Catholic Church. There is only one Catholicism. I wish that Catholicism would not be split. What is Chinese Catholicism? There is only one Catholicism."
China's Foreign Ministry earlier this week renewed calls on the Vatican to end diplomatic relations with self-ruled Taiwan -