Pope Benedict tells China: open up to Christianity
AP via Yahoo! News - Aug 05 12:53 PMBy DANIELA PETROFF, Associated Press Writer
OIES, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI urged China Tuesday to open up to Christianity as he visited the birthplace of a 19th century saint who died as a missionary there 100 years ago.
China's officially atheistic Communist Party forced Chinese Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, and the two sides have not restored formal relations. Many of the country's estimated 12 million Catholics worship in congregations outside the state-approved church and often are arrested or harassed.
"It is important for this great country to open itself to the Gospel," said Benedict, who has made the improvement of relations with China a priority of his papacy.
The pope sent a special letter to Catholics in China last year, praising the underground church, but also urging the faithful to reconcile with followers of the official church.
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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 1:32 PM
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