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

By Ben Blanchard and Liz Lee

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te sent congratulations on Friday to newly appointed Pope Leo, saying Taiwan looked forward to building on existing ties to advance peace and justice, while China offered a more low-key response.

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 Lai sent a congratulatory message via its embassy to the Vatican.

"We look forward to building on our diplomatic ties with the Holy See, 83 years strong, to advance peace, justice, solidarity & benevolence," Lai wrote in English on his X account.

China, which has no official diplomatic relations with the Vatican, congratulated the new pope, saying it hoped for continuous improvement of ties.

"We hope the Vatican under the new pontiff will continue to engage in dialogue with China in a constructive spirit," foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular press conference in Beijing.

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

Last October, China and the Vatican 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 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 name is Robert Prevost, that he was from Taiwan, Leo's responded that he was able to distinguish the difference between "democratic Taiwan and communist China".

Vatican official Paulin Batairwa Kubuya, under-secretary of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, is visiting Taiwan to attend a conference and meet members of its different faiths.

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 curbs on freedom of religion.