For the first time since he became pontiff in 2005, Pope Benedict included in his annual Christmas message a comment on the lack of religious freedom in China. 'May the birth of the saviour strengthen the spirit of faith, patience and courage of the faithful of the church in mainland China,' the Pope said, 'that they may not lose heart through the limitations imposed on their freedom of religion and conscience but ... may keep alive the flame of hope.'
The papal message is the latest indication that all is not well between the Catholic Church and China, both of which boast a history of thousands of years. There are about a billion Catholics in the world, compared with 1.3 billion Chinese, of whom about 12 million are Catholics.
After the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, it broke off diplomatic relations with the Vatican and set two conditions for their re-establishment: that the Vatican must 'not interfere in religious matters in China' and that the Vatican must break official relations with the government in Taiwan.
In recent years, the Vatican has indicated its willingness to accept the second condition but has insisted that the Chinese government should not violate religious freedom, which has largely boiled down to how Catholic bishops in China are chosen.
Beijing's position is that the appointment of Chinese bishops is a domestic affair to be decided by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which was created by the government, while the Vatican insists that Catholic bishops can only be appointed by the Pope.
Since 2007, the Chinese have obtained tacit Vatican approval before the ordination of new bishops. However, a new, harder line has crept into Chinese policy in recent months. This may well have to do with a decision by Beijing to adopt a more confrontational stance vis-a-vis the West after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo .
In November, the pro-government patriotic church ordained Joseph Guo Jincai as the bishop of Chengde , Hebei, without papal approval, apparently the first such case since 2007.