Taiwan’s relations with the Vatican are unlikely to be affected by upcoming negotiations between the ecclesiastical state and Beijing over an expiring bishop appointment agreement, Archbishop of Taipei Thomas Chung (鍾安住) said.
Chung made the remarks on Saturday in response to media queries after assuming pastoral leadership of the Taipei Archdiocese, which encompasses Taipei, Keelung, New Taipei City and Yilan County.
The Vatican, Taiwan’s only official diplomatic ally in Europe, in 2018 signed a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops with China, which expires in September.
Photo: EPA-EFE
As the Holy See is expected to negotiate for the renewal or advancement of the agreement with Beijing, observers have expressed concerns that Taiwan-Vatican relations could be affected.
Chung said that although the Vatican is concerned with evangelization in China, “in my opinion, this will not affect Taiwan-Vatican relations.”
Chung cited his own selection as the new archbishop of Taipei this year as an indication that Pope Francis treasures the Vatican’s relations with Taiwan.
He also said that Arnaldo Catalan, charge d’affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in Taiwan, who visited Chiayi County last week, was satisfied with the development of churches and religious freedom in Taiwan, and reported his observations to the Holy See.
Chung, 68, was formally installed as Archbishop of Taipei in a rite at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City, after an apostolic letter from Pope Francis announcing his appointment was read out by Catalan.
He replaces John Hung (洪山川), who resigned after reaching the age limit, and is also to serve as the apostolic administrator of Taiwan’s outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
ALLEGED SABOTAGE: The damage inflicted by the vessel did not affect connection, as data were immediately rerouted to other cables, Chunghwa Telecom said Taiwan suspects that a Chinese-owned cargo vessel damaged an undersea cable near its northeastern coast on Friday, in an alleged act of sabotage that highlights the vulnerabilities of Taipei’s offshore communications infrastructure. The ship is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company whose director is Chinese, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. An unidentified Taiwanese official cited in the report described the case as sabotage. The incident followed another Chinese vessel’s suspected involvement in the breakages of data cables in the Baltic Sea in November last year. While fishing trawlers are known to sometimes damage such equipment, nation states have also
RSS