On Tuesday 8 April our usual lunch at the Kempinski but with a unusual topic.
Speaker Committee Chair Joerg introduced the speaker Mr. Francesco Sisci, commentator for the Italian daily Il Sole 24ore, Commentator for Asia Times with the column Sinograph, frequent commentator on International affairs for CCTV and Phoenix TV. His topic was “Vatican and China”.

Mr. Sisci has been living in China for almost 30 years and witnessed many changes in Catholics in China. Chinese Catholics are split, yet they are a tiny minority of less than 1% of the population, about 6-12 million people. In the English-language Global Times on 19 March, China signaled a more open position. The article started out claiming that the Chinese Patriotic Association does not want the Vatican to interfere in bishop appointments, but then it went on to give a positive assessment of the Pope (actually China is pretty impressed with many world leaders paying a special visit to the Vatican). The article said China and the Vatican do not have diplomatic ties, but it left out the usual warning to Rome about cutting ties with Taiwan. Pope Francis wrote to President Xi Jinping at the time of his election, and Mr. Xi replied with a letter. It is the first time China has ever admitted publicly of an exchange of messages at the highest level with the Vatican. This admission is groundbreaking, and certainly far more important than a refrain about the bishops, apparently delivered to satisfy a domestic constituency hostile to warmer ties with Rome.
Rotarian Urpo thanked Mr. Sisci for the interesting presentation on behalf of the club.

What I learned later is that the beautification of Matteo Ricci, along with another famous Chinese Catholic, could materialize this year. That would be a convenient opportunity to review the relations with the Vatican.