Pope's letter to Chinese Catholics expected by Easter

Pope Benedict’s letter to Chinese Catholics will be completed around Easter, the AsiaNews service reports.

Citing the words of Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong, AsiaNews reports that the Pope’s message will be carefully worded, designed to promote the possibility of diplomatic progress, but insistent on the need for religious freedom.

Cardinal Zen suggests that the Pope might put forward the “Vietnam model” as a compromise that could represent a step forward in relations between Beijing and Rome. In Vietnam the government has accepted the Pope’s right to name bishops, provided that the Vatican consults first with Hanoi. In China the Holy See is determined to preserve the Pope’s right to designate bishops-- a right that is now contested by the Catholic Patriotic Association.

For full story see CW News here.

New China. New crisis

Sunday January 7, 2007
The Observer

In the last decade China has emerged as a powerful, resurgent economic force with the muscle to challenge America as the global superpower. But, in his controversial new book, Will Hutton argues that China's explosive economic reforms will create seismic tensions within the one-party authoritarian state and asks: can the centre hold?

See an edited extract from The Writing on the Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century to be published by Little, Brown on 15 January, £20.

See article here