A top Vatican official has repeated that the Holy See will not open diplomatic relations with China unless the Beijing government recognizes the Pope's authority to name bishops.Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, who served for 3 years as the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States-- in effect the Vatican's foreign minister-- made his remarks in an interview during a visit to Japan.
The Vatican is anxious to establish ties with China, the archbishop said, noting that there are between 8 and 18 million Catholics in the country.
"Given such a multitude of faithful, the Pope wishes to have his representatives there in order to take care of their pastoral needs," he said.
However, Archbishop Lajolo went on to say that progress toward diplomatic ties has stalled because Beijing will not acknowledge the Pope's authority to appoint bishops.
The Vatican will not consider full diplomatic ties until Beijing drops its claim of a right to name bishops in China, and the Chinese government will not accept any form of ties short of full diplomatic relations, the archbishop said. The Vatican sees the Pope's right to name bishops as a crucial test of religious freedom.
Archbishop Lajolo-- who since 2006 has been head of the Vatican city-state government-- said that he was confident that diplomatic ties could be established quickly if the Beijing government yielded on that crucial point.
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