The election of the 78-year-old German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the 265th pope on only the second day of the conclave shows that the 115 assembled cardinals wanted someone who would continue Pope John Paul II's work, rather than someone who might strike out in new directions. All signs suggest that Pope Benedict XVI will continue to engage other faiths, as did his predecessor. The day after his inauguration, he reached out to the Muslim community, telling leaders of a variety of religious faiths that they, especially, must be committed to peace. The Pope also invited Rome's Chief Rabbi, Riccardo di Segni, to his installation ceremony, but he could not attend because of the Passover holiday, which began on Saturday. This reaching out to leaders of other faiths - as well as to other Christians, such as leaders of the Orthodox and Protestant churches - is vital because the churches are in a position to do much good if they work together. Sooner rather than later, Pope Benedict will, no doubt, also reach out to China, where there are more than 10 million Catholics, including members of both the 'patriotic' and underground churches. And China, it appears, is willing to improve relations with the Vatican. Beijing congratulated the newly elected pontiff and said it hoped that he would work to improve relations with China. The state-sponsored Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Chinese Catholic Bishops Conference sent a joint message of congratulations, calling Pope Benedict 'the representative of Christ on Earth, the heir of Saint Peter'. This suggests that even the so-called 'patriotic' church recognises the position of the Pope in Catholicism. The Chinese government, however, is still insisting on its two conditions. 'The Vatican must cut its so-called diplomatic relations with Taiwan, acknowledging that the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China,' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang . Second, he added, the Vatican 'must not interfere in China's domestic affairs, including not interfering in domestic affairs in the name of religion'. Hopefully, the church and China can reach a meeting of minds whereby the church will not interfere in China's domestic affairs and Beijing will not interfere in religious affairs. Pope John Paul II wrote personal letters to Deng Xiaoping and, after Deng's death, to then president Jiang Zemin . Pope Benedict may well write to President Hu Jintao . The Catholic Church has found ways to coexist with communist governments before. John Paul was himself the product of co-operation between the church and the Polish Communist Party, which was given a voice in the choice of bishops by the Vatican. There is no reason why the Vatican and China cannot also find a way to work out their differences. After all, the Vatican already has diplomatic relations with 174 countries, including communist Cuba, and none of them seem to consider the nomination of bishops by the Vatican to constitute interference in their internal affairs. Now that China has had its open policy for more than 25 years, Beijing should have a great deal more confidence in itself and need not be fearful of the church. And if China turns out to be the only country in the world that cannot reach an agreement with the Vatican, then perhaps the problem is not one of the church seeking to interfere in China's domestic affairs in the name of religion. Rather, it is more likely to be that the Communist Party insists on interfering in religious affairs. Frank Ching is a writer and commentator based in Hong Kong frank.ching@gmail.com
