Posted on 03/10/2014 1:29:27 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
During an interview with the Italian paper, Corriere della Sera, Pope Francis confirmed that he has corresponded with Chinese President, Xi Jinping.
Pope Francis said, "I sent a letter to President Xi Jinping when he was elected, three days after me. And he replied to me."
Pope Francis told the paper he hoped to develop "friendly relations with China" and described the Vatican as being "close to China."
The paper said that Pope Francis prayed for victims of an earthquake in China as well as offering special prayers on the World Day of Prayer.
Relations between the Catholic Church and the Vatican have been strained in the past, but seemt o have improved a bit in recent years. At the heart of the problem is that the Chinese communist government is essentially an atheistic regime where religion competes with the worship of the state. For this reason, Christianity in China has been suppressed, although there is an officially approved Catholic church in China with bishops chosen by the Catholic Patriotic Association.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
I hope there's a word missing from that.
On the other hand, who are we to judge?
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