austraLasia 1113
China: "Surprise added to joy", one reaction to Pope Benedict XVI
HONG KONG/BEIJING: 22nd April 2005 -- From both the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong and from the Chinese capital Beijing, reactions to Pope Benedict XVI's election have been swift.
Bishop Joseph Zen highlighted an issue which the new Pope himself had emphasised just days before his election: relativism. "The biggest problem in the world today is relativism", Bishop Zen said. "People treat faith and truth according to the principles of the market economy and democracy". He said that for him the election of Benedict XVI "added surprise to joy". He expressed his hope that the new Pope would continue to dispel 'shrouding clouds of error and let the splendour of truth shine on us".
China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao also welcomed the election of Benedict XVI but used the occasion to insist on the conditions China places on re-establishing ties with the Vatican. The new Pope, while not speaking specifically to an issue such as this, did say in a message concluding his first Mass in the Sistine Chapel, that he aims to promote dialogue "with various civilisations, because it is mutual understanding that gives rise to conditions for a better future for everyone".
The name chosen by the Pope does have a certain resonance in China. It was Benedict XV who wrote the apostolic letter Maximum Illud, still regarded as the magna carta of missionary activity in the 20th Century and certainly still relevant in the 21st. It was prompted by the situation of Chinese Catholics at the beginning of that century.
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