For Shanghai Bishop, a handshake between Xi and Francis would move the world
Shanghai (AsiaNews) – Auxiliary Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin of Shanghai would like to see Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during their visit to Washington, DC, tomorrow.
On Monday, the prelate posted on his blog a piece titled ‘Expectation to see two prominent leaders shake hands in an unexpected encounter’.
The Chinese government has barred Bishop Ma from exercising his episcopal duties but has allowed him to post daily prayers and spiritual articles on his blog.
The prelate starts his article saying that he is happy to see President Xi engaged in a weeklong visit to the US, at a time when Pope Francis too will be on a 5-day visit to US Catholics, albeit with different itineraries. Yet, “Sept 24 is the day both leaders will reach Washington, DC, and that drew my attention,” he wrote.
After analysing US-PRC diplomatic relations, which were established in 1979, he suggested they should move toward harmony, a goal both should recognise. Citing his teacher Professor Ni Shixiong of Fudan University, he suggested that a path of harmonious coexistence and common development is a win-win strategy.
For Bishop Ma, China’s delegation to the US ought to seek common ground to build peace in the world. “I think we can expect that President Xi and US President Barack Obama will have a friendly handshake,” he said.
Turning to the US-Holy See relationship, he said that although religion tends to remain in the background, it can become dominant in special cases.
The United States is probably fully aware of this and established diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
He said he could imagine Pope Francis and the US President also in a friendly handshake.
Conversely, the prelate wonders if there can be any progress in China-Holy See relations.
China now has diplomatic relations with 165 countries. Its foreign minister told the press that win-win cooperation is a the core of China’s new international relations, and that Beijing would maintain the momentum of progress and expand its all-round diplomacy.
Bishop Ma noted that strictly speaking the Holy See is not a state. still, it has a permanent observer status at the United Nations.
“The Holy See advocates building relations with nations,” Ma writes, “and such a relationship can protect religious freedom of Catholics in any given country or territory.
“The Holy See and 179 countries and territories maintain formal diplomatic relations, and the Holy See’s basic foreign policy is religious and humanitarian, not political, unrelated to trade and the military”.
“Will President Xi and Pope Francis, now in the US, have an opportunity to meet in an unexpected way, and will they have an expected friendly handshake?” the bishop asked.
“I look forward to their shaking hands,” he added. “If these two influential and prominent leaders in the world really have a friendly handshake, not only would I, a little man at the foothill of Sheshan, on the outskirts of Shanghai, be moved, but so would the whole world”.
(The picture above is a photomontage by Forbes)
.png)
