Taiwan’s President Ma to attend pope's installation
March 16, 2013: Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Friday that President
Ma Ying-jeou will attend installation ceremonies for Pope Francis and is set to depart
for Rome on Sunday.
Ma’s visit will be only the second time that a Taiwan president
has visited the Vatican – the only state in Europe that maintains diplomatic ties
with Taipei rather than Beijing.
Chen Shui-bian, Ma’s predecessor, attended
the funeral of Blessed John Paul in 2005 but did not attend the installation of Benedict
XVI.
One Church observer who asked not to be identified said such a trip would
have been unlikely in the past and that his attendance at the installation of Pope
Francis next week was telling.
“Ma’s visiting the pope was previously seen
as impossible under the political shadow of Beijing. The installation as well as stagnating
Beijing-Vatican relations has offered a rare chance for a diplomatic breakthrough
for Taiwan,” the observer said.
The observer added that it was likely that
Beijing had reached some kind of consensus with Taipei so that Ma’s visit to the Vatican
would not cause the same tension that followed former President Chen’s so-called “funeral
diplomacy” in 2005.
But early indications from Beijing indicate that China
intends to take a hard line with the new pontiff, as a foreign ministry spokesperson
on Thursday said China hopes for flexibility on Pope Francis’s part, including the
severing of all diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Local media have reported that
the Vatican has assured all the normal courtesies to Ma as head of state upon his
arrival, and that Rome has sought Beijing’s understanding in the granting of visas
for Ma’s delegation.
Monsignor Paul Russell, the papal representative in Taiwan,
further noted that the Holy See was “happy to welcome” President Ma.
After
his re-election to a second term last year, Ma – a non-practicing Catholic – expressed
his interest in meeting then Pope Benedict in the Vatican to Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla,
the papal envoy at his inauguration ceremony.
Meanwhile, the Bishops’ Conference
of Taiwan will send a 10-member delegation, including bishops and lay Catholics, to
attend the installation.
While media reports suggested that the delegation
would be traveling with Ma, the bishops’ conference clarified that they were arranging
their own travel to Rome.