With all the bad press surrounding Steven Spielberg's Olympic boycott, Beijing seems to be scrambling to action to diffuse all the negative publicity by wooing a most unlikely target, the Pope. From Michael Sheridan of the Sunday Times (UK):

TEMPTED by the prize of a historic visit to China by Pope Benedict XVI, the nation’s leaders have authorised a renewed effort in confidential discussions with the Vatican to heal their rift and inaugurate diplomatic ties. more ›

It has been three weeks since Pope Benedict XVI issued his first letter to mainland Chinese Catholics which stirred up a wide range of sentiments, and since then observers have been eagerly watching for the first signs of Beijing's response to the letter. more ›

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 ›