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...LETTER FROM...
...LETTER FROM A FARMER...
...network of priests and parishioners loyal to the Pope. Increasingly, with local mediation and a softening from both Rome and Beijing, there is more cross-over among parishioners of the two churches. Indeed, says Father Bernardo Cervellera, editor of Asia News and a longtime China expert, the Pope's letter was aimed at "making clear in public that the Church is united, that the official and unofficial churches are related. This pushes all the communities in China to cooperate, which makes it more difficult to divide...
Months in the making, the letter is seen as the public cornerstone in Benedict's China policy, which may turn out to be more active - and perhaps more fruitful - than his predecessor's. With an estimated 12 million Catholics and a pent-up religiosity, China is seen in the Vatican as a great missionary opportunity. Still, no one in Rome has any illusions that the missive alone can heal the more than half-century rupture that came after the arrival of the Communist regime...
Chinese officials, who were given the letter as a "courtesy" several days before its official release, quickly fired off a response, demanding that the Vatican immediately sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan and not "create new obstacles" in negotiations with Beijing. The Patriotic church has refused to distribute the letter to its priests and faithful, and there are reports that the Vatican website - where the text and an explanatory note are available in Chinese - has been blocked on mainland China in recent days...