Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) in the Vatican on Sunday said that he would strive to make more friends, and let the world know about Taiwan’s adherence to freedom and democracy, despite the grave challenges facing the nation.
Chen arrived in the Holy See on Saturday to attend yesterday’s beatification ceremony for Pope John Paul I as President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) special envoy.
The Vatican is Taiwan’s sole European ally.
Photo: CNA
Chen yesterday said he met with Pope Francis before the ceremony.
He said he relayed Tsai’s greetings to the pope and asked him to pray for Taiwanese.
Francis in response smiled and asked him to pray together for world peace, Chen said.
Photo provided by the Taiwanese Embassy to the Holy See
He said he also presented the pope with a book that documented the work of Catholic missionaries in Taiwan.
Chen is heading a delegation of six people comprising his staff, a security detail and his wife, Lo Fong-ping (羅鳳蘋), the Presidential Office said.
Upon the delegation’s arrival in Rome on Saturday, Chen visited the Taiwanese Embassy to the Holy See, where he praised the nation’s diplomats stationed in the Vatican.
Photo provided by the Taiwanese Embassy to the Holy See
He also visited a calligraphy and painting exhibition, titled “Friendly Taiwan meets Fratelli tutti,” celebrating 80 years of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the Holy See.
Chen and his wife are today to attend Mass at Saint Sophia Cathedral, the office said. The couple also plan to make official visits to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Caritas Internationalis, and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to engage with the church and affiliated organizations on issues surrounding Taiwan’s participation in international humanitarian efforts.
Chen is the second Taiwanese to be named a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the first to be appointed to its council.
He is to attend a meeting of the council and a gathering of academics from Wednesday to Saturday, which Pope Francis is also expected to attend.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS