Pope Benedictus XVI

life - Vatican and China move to end feud

After a regime-change in Beijing, the latest regime-change at the Vatican seems to have brought both parties together, at least that is the conclusion of the correspondent ot The Times in London.

A Vatican official said that Cardinal Angelo Sodano was sending a deliberate signal this week when he said that the Vatican was ready to move its nuncio (ambassador) from Taiwan to Beijing immediately. Taiwanese officials also told The Times that they expected the Vatican to have established relations with Beijing within 18 months.

It is part of a large number of changes both in international domestic politics in China that have taken place since Hu Jintao took the helm from Jiang Zemin. While Jiang stuck to the same line concerning Taiwan, Tibet, the death penalty, religious freedoms, non-governmental organizations, the Renminbi, Aids, in the past few years Hu Jintao has broken with many of the old holy cows in Chinese politics. That of course does not mean all is moving into the right direction, but in most fields there had been no change in almost a decade. And now, the 50-year old feud with the Vatican seems to be on the way out.
Still a few things left, but that is for tomorrow.