BEIJING: The death of Pope John Paul II, a lifetime crusader against communism, has sparked speculation of an imminent diplomatic thaw between the Vatican and mainland China — more than 50 years after the communist government expelled all foreign priests and severed links with the Holy See.

But hopes for the restoration of diplomatic ties might still be derailed by Beijing’s insistence that the Communist Party, instead of Rome, appoint all Catholic bishops in the country.

News that Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian would be attending the pope’s funeral on Friday could further complicate the already delicate situation between Beijing and Vatican. The Vatican is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Europe.

Expectations that John Paul II’s successor would normalise ties with China were boosted this week when the head of the church in Hong Kong told his congregation and local media that the Vatican was ready to sacrifice diplomatic relations with China’s rival, Taiwan, to win Beijing’s blessing.

“The Holy See has been thinking of giving up Taiwan. This is a difficult (decision) but it has decided to do it,” Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun was quoted as saying after a Requiem Mass in Hong Kong to mourn the late Pope.

Bishop Zen hinted that the Vatican might be prepared to sever ties with Taipei in return for greater freedom for the Catholic church to operate inside China. “But the bishop in Taiwan understands this. If the Holy See does not establish (diplomatic) ties with China, Catholics there will have no real freedom,” he said.

According to the Holy See press office, all major diplomatic activity and initiatives of the Vatican were suspended until a conclave later this month to elect a new pope.

But two days before the pope’s death, Cardinal Godfried Daneels of Belgium went to Beijing to meet Ye Xiaowen, director-general of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, and was later received by vice-premier Hui Liangyu.

Regarded as one of the prime candidates to succeed the late Pope, Cardinal Daneels sparked talks of a thaw between Beijing and the Vatican. The meeting between the Belgian cardinal and the Chinese vice-premier was one of the highest-level meetings held in mainland China between a prominent Catholic clergyman and Beijing officials in years.

The Vatican has several times been on the point of switching recognition from Taiwan — most recently in 2001, when the Pope apologised on behalf of the Catholic Church for the mistakes it had made and the pain caused to the Chinese during its colonial past.

The pope’s act of contrition was contained in a message to a conference on Matteo Ricci, the Jesuit priest who introduced Catholicism to the Chinese imperial court more than 500 years ago. The pope said the protection of European political powers had limited the freedom of action of Christian missionaries and prevented them from accomplishing their mission of service to the Chinese people.

The delicate negotiations however collapsed when Beijing shrugged the pontiff’s appeal for reconciliation, saying the apology didn’t go far enough because the pope didn’t say sorry for canonising Catholic martyrs in 2000.

The Vatican canonised 120 martyrs on China’s Oct. 1 National Day, saying they were killed during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion out of loyalty to their faith. But Beijing insists most were traitors executed for breaking laws when foreign forces invaded China in the aftermath of the uprising.

About five million Chinese Catholics are recorded as belonging to the state-controlled China Patriotic Church, while another eight million allegedly belong to an underground church that recognises the pope.—-Dawn/IPS News Service