Don't lose hope, former Vatican envoy urges
People should not lose hope about religious freedom on the mainland - in the same way that they kept faith in the 1980s when facing Hong Kong's transition, a former top Vatican official has said.
Speaking to Catholics during a visit to Hong Kong at the weekend, Cardinal Jozef Tomko, a retired prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, also said the July letter by Pope Benedict to Catholics on the mainland had cleared up issues concerning the Chinese church.
'We must never lose our hope,' Cardinal Tomko said.
'The future of the church in China ... this situation is in the hands of God, not only in the hands of powerful people.'
He cited the example of the faith expressed by Catholics in Hong Kong when he last visited the city in the late 1980s, when they feared for their future under mainland rule.
'We must pray for the resolution of the situation in China, so that the church will prosper in faith, hope and love,' he said.
The visit to Hong Kong of Cardinal Tomko, who was the Holy See's worldwide missionary chief dealing with mainland church affairs between 1985 and 2001, follows a visit by Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien earlier this month.
In recent months, Sino-Vatican relations have remained volatile despite mutual agreement over the appointment of Beijing Bishop Joseph Li Shan in September.
Cardinal Tomko was instrumental in issuing a now-defunct guideline which has regulated relationships between state-sanctioned mainland Catholics and underground communities loyal to the Pope.
The so-called Eight-Point Directive he circulated to the mainland church in 1988 warned Catholics against attending services conducted by bishops and priests who had not been approved by the Vatican.
The directive also asked Catholics to seek out priests affiliated to the Vatican for sacraments.
But in his recent letter to Chinese Catholics, Pope Benedict revoked past regulations and called for reconciliation of the two communities on condition that religious freedom was respected.
