prayer of suffrage for Benedict XVI

The emeritus pope’s death was also published on the Chinese Communist Party-controlled website chinacatholic.cn. The “official” body is headed by Archbishop of Beijing Mons. Giuseppe Li Shan, who was appointed in 2007 with the consent of Benedict XVI. For its part, the government of Taiwan has appointed the former vice president, the Catholic Chen Chien-jen, to attend the funeral in the Vatican as an official representative.

Milan ( / Agencies) – “Let us entrust Benedict XVI to the mercy of God and ask him to grant him eternal rest in heaven.” with these words chinacatholic.cn -the official site that depends on the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics, the ecclesiastical body controlled by the Communist Party- yesterday joined the mourning of the Church throughout the world for the death of the emeritus pope. On the home page of the site there is an image of the pope emeritus with the year of his birth and his death taken from the VaticanNews site, with the Vatican logo clearly visible.

The official communiqué on the death issued by the Holy See was directly published on the website of the Patriotic Association, preceded by the title “Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI rests in the arms of the Lord.” Few words that would seem obvious if it were not for the context in which they are published: an “official” website where most of the news tends to refer to the commitment of Catholics to the faithful application of Xi Jinping’s thought on the religious field. Chinese face socialism. On the other hand, news about the Pope and the Vatican never appear, in the name of the principle of the “autonomy” of the Church in China with respect to foreign influences that the Patriotic Association affirms. It should be remembered that since last summer the “official” body has been chaired by the Archbishop of Beijing, Monsignor Joseph Li Shan, who was appointed in 2007 with the prior consent of Benedict XVI himself, according to the procedure in force before the 2018 Provisional Agreement on the appointment of bishops.

Much more space is devoted to the death of Benedict XVI on xinde.org, the site most widely read by Catholic communities in mainland China. Particularly significant is the gallery of images about the life of the emeritus pope, which includes a photograph where he can be seen with a group of Chinese faithful in the atrium of Saint Peter’s Basilica. In Hong Kong, however, Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan has ordered that starting this morning the faithful can express their condolences for the death of Pope Ratzinger in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, where on Wednesday at 6 in the Afternoon the diocese will gather to celebrate a Mass of suffrage.

At the same time, the President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen has appointed former Vice President Chen Chien-jen, a Catholic, to participate as a representative of the Government of Taipei in the funeral of Benedict XVI to be held on January 5 in Rome. With this same function, Chen Chien-jen had already participated in the beatification of John Paul II on September 4, and on that occasion he had met with Pope Francis. For John Paul II’s funeral in 2005, then-President Chen Shui-bian personally went to the Vatican, a gesture that had aroused the ire of Beijing. The government of Taipei, with which the Holy See maintains diplomatic relations, has expressed its condolences on the death of Benedict XVI with an official note stating that the pope emeritus will be remembered throughout the world “for his humility and his concern for all humanity.