Chinese Newspaper Alludes to Possible Visit by Pope Francis

Aleteia ^ | 7/17/18 | John Burger

[marshmallow]

Government-approved periodical quotes expert comparing possible papal visit to Nixon's historic opening to China.

News images of President Richard M. Nixon and the first lady, Patricia Nixon, walking along the Great Wall of China in 1972 stunned millions of television viewers because China and the United States had not had diplomatic relations since Mao Zedong’s victory in 1949. America was still fighting the Vietnam War, and the “Red Chinese” were still aiding the communist North Vietnamese.

An equally stunning image could be broadcast on screens around the world in the near future: the white-clad pope of the Catholic Church being welcomed on a tarmac in People’s Republic by China’s leaders.

In a small way, something surprising has already taken place that may be a harbinger for that long-awaited papal visit to the Middle Kingdom: an official newspaper of the Chinese government has alluded to the possibility of such a visit.

“Thinking about global affairs, Vatican-China relations could be the single most important relations in the world today. If Pope Francis could visit China, its significance and impacts could be bigger than President Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. It will be an earth-shaking and world-changing development,” Yang Fenggang, a professor at Purdue University’s Center on Religion and Chinese Society, told the Global Times.

The Global Times is a daily Chinese tabloid under the auspices of the People’s Daily, a newspaper controlled by the Chinese authorities. The article had a definite slant in favor of the communist government, as it portrayed “conservative” cardinals as getting in the way of what it portrayed as Pope Francis’ desire for a deal with Beijing.

[MuttTheHoople]

Fellow travelers gonna traveler.

[littleharbour]

He’s going in person to collect his 30 pieces of silver

[Ouchthatonehurt]

Maybe he’ll ask for asylum.

[Unam Sanctam]

Xi Jinping is enacting new laws to prevent children from participating in any religious activities, even at officially approved places of worship. Does the Holy Father support that?

[dfwgator]

Bergoglio loved Cuba, so China is right up his alley.

[bgill]

They can keep him.

[Rockingham]

What China is offering is a papal vanity tour to seal the subordination of Catholicism to China’s Communist rulers.

[ebb tide]

Jorge never met a communist he didn't like.

"I can only say that the communists have stolen our flag. The flag of the poor is Christian. Poverty is at the center of the Gospel," he (Humble Jorge) said, citing Biblical passages about the need to help the poor, the sick and the needy.