https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/chinese-vatican-foreign-ministers-hold-rare-high-level-meeting/ar-BB101s4P
Chinese, Vatican foreign ministers hold rare high-level meeting
The foreign ministers of the Vatican and China have met on Friday in what is believed to be the highest-level official encounter between the two sides in decades.
The meeting between Archbishop Paul Gallagher and Wang Yi, previously unthinkable, took place on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The Vatican and China have not had diplomatic relations since the 1950s.
"This is a continuation of the exchanges between China and the Vatican for a period of time. It will open up more space for future exchanges between the two sides," he said.
Isa 5:14
Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
China's roughly 12 million Catholics have for decades been split between a government-run association, whose clergy were chosen by the atheist Communist Party, and an "unofficial underground" church loyal to the Vatican.
However, some Catholics objected to the pact, accusing the Vatican of having sold out to the communist government.
The deal's most outspoken critic has been Cardinal Joseph Zen, the former archbishop of Hong Kong. The Vatican says not pursuing a deal would have risked a schism.
Friday's meeting was the latest in a "series of signs" of improving relations in recent weeks.
Last month, the pope praised what he called China's "great commitment" to contain the coronavirus outbreak and later the Vatican's charity arm sent hundreds of thousands of medical masks to China as a gesture of goodwill.
If they resume full relations, the Vatican would have to sever relations with Taiwan, which Beijing considers a wayward province. The Vatican is the only state in Europe to still recognise Taipei.