Pope Benedict offered special prayers for the Catholics in China who face severe constraints to practice their faith. He composed a prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan in Shanghai for the occasion and asked that Catholics all over the world observe May 24 as the "World Day of Prayer for the Church in China", an annual day of prayer observed every year since 2007. more ›

If we know one thing about China, it's that it likes to do things it's own way. It won't reign in a rogue tyrannical nation just because you ask, it will set up it's own peace prize if it doesn't agree with your choice, and it will go about ordaining it's own Catholic priests too - sorry, Vatican. more ›

As part of their continuing series on religion in China, NPR has a very insightful piece on the divide between the two types of Catholic churches found here - those that are sanctioned by the Communist government (even if the pope refuses to recognize them) and the "underground" ones still pledging their loyalty to the Vatican. Both are inching closer to reconciliation, but it is a painful and confusing process. For more on religion, they've also done pieces on the booming Christianity movement and Protestant churches in rural China. more ›

Chinese cash helps former Portuguese colony overtake US city's gaming revenues. more ›

I don’t want to dwell too much on the letter’s consequences; there are people far more qualified to do that, and they will. For now, I’d just like to point out that - in a small way - the letter serves as a near total and complete repudiation of the rhetoric and methods of the Cardinal Kung Foundation. For those who aren’t familiar with it, the Kung Foundation is an American non-profit whose stated goal is support of China’s underground Catholics; in reality, the foundation and its leader Joseph Kung have spent the better part of the last two decades agitating for more division among China’s Catholics (a stance which the Pope’s letter implicitly recognizes as contrary to his and the late John Paul II’s intentions). I outline some of this in my recent profile of Jin Luxian in the July/August issue of the Atlantic.

In a very unusual letter (English translation here) addressed to the "bishops, priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful" in mainland China, Pope Benedict XVI (and he's got a cool Chinese name too - 教宗本笃十六世) has openly hoped for a renewal of relations between China and the Vatican. In the letter, the Pope noted that "there are signs, in China too, of the tendency towards materialism and hedonism, which are spreading from the big cities to the entire country" and called on Chinese believers to remember that "the new evangelization demands the proclamation of the Gospel to modern man, with a keen awareness that, just as during the first Christian millennium the Cross was planted in Europe and during the second in the American continent and in Africa, so during the third millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in the vast and vibrant Asian continent". more ›

video clip entitled "巴士阿叔, Bus Uncle" on YouTube. more ›