Taiwan president congratulates Pope Leo, more low key reaction from China

By Ben Blanchard and Liz Lee

TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) -Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has sent his congratulations to the newly appointed Pope Leo, saying Taiwan hopes to continue working with the Vatican to pursue justice and religious freedom, with China giving a more low-key reaction.

The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, though Lai did not attend Pope Francis' funeral last month, sending instead former vice president Chen Chien-jen, a devout Catholic.

Francis had led a wide-ranging outreach to officially atheist China, including signing a deal on the appointment of Catholic bishops in that country, worrying Taiwan.

Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a Friday statement that Lai had sent his congratulatory message via its embassy to the Vatican.

Lai "stressed that Taiwan looks forward to continuing to work with the Holy See to jointly pursue peace, justice, religious freedom, solidarity, fraternity, and human dignity", the statement said.

"Taiwan will continue to promote various exchanges and co-operation with the Holy See, to further strengthen bilateral relations, and to make more contributions to the world together with the Holy See," said the ministry statement.

China's two government-backed Catholic groups, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Bishops' Conference of Catholic Church in China, also sent their congratulations, China's official Xinhua news agency said in a one-line report.

China and the Vatican last October extended for four years a landmark 2018 agreement signed when Francis was pope on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China.

Taiwan's foreign ministry did not say whether Lai might attend Leo's inauguration. In 2013, then-president Ma Ying-jeou went to Francis' inauguration.

Taiwan's embassy to the Vatican on Friday posted a picture of its outgoing ambassador, Matthew Lee, shaking hands with Leo at a Vatican event in 2023.

Lee told Taiwan's official Central News Agency that when he told Leo, whose real name is Robert Prevost, that he was from Taiwan, Leo's response was that he was able to distinguish the difference between "democratic Taiwan and communist China".

A Vatican official is currently visiting Taiwan, Paulin Batairwa Kubuya, the Vatican's under-secretary of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, to attend a conference and meet members of the island's different faith communities.

China says Taiwan is one of its provinces with no right to state-to-state ties, a position the government in Taipei strongly rejects.

Chinese Catholics are split between an underground church swearing loyalty to the Vatican and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association.

Taiwan puts no restrictions on freedom of religion.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Perry)