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Taipei Archbishop Says Will Invite Pope to Visit Taiwan

The Roman Catholic ecclesiastical overseer of Taiwan said on Thursday that he will welcome Pope Francis to visit the nation for a Congregation congress one year from now, an outing that would likely incense China. "No pope has ever arrived in Taiwan," Ecclesiastical overseer John Hung said in comments at a gathering at Taiwan's consulate to the Vatican.

He later revealed to Reuters he got a kick out of the chance to "dream the unimaginable" and that he would broaden the welcome one week from now when he and different priests from Taiwan meet the pope. Hung said he felt the pope should visit the island in light of the fact that the general population there "have endured." China claims Taiwan as its own and considers the self-ruled island a wayward region.

The island has around 300,000 Catholics. The Vatican is one of just 19 expresses that still perceive Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China. Beijing, which has no discretionary relations with the Vatican, demands that if nations need relations with it they should break ties with Taiwan.

A month ago the Dominican Republic turned into the most recent nation to change from Taiwan to Beijing. The Vatican and Beijing have been holding chats on the naming of ministers in China, whose Catholics are partitioned between an "underground" Church faithful to the pope and a legislature sponsored Church. The discussions seem to have slowed down as of late. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has beforehand welcomed the pope to visit.

from Asia - Voice of America https://ift.tt/2Ib5d7i

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