Pope quietly changes Nuncio
in charge of China
VATICAN CITY, March 2 (AFP) – The Vatican has secretly elected a new delegate in China, the French press agency i.media said Tuesday, as diplomatic relations between Beijing and the Holy See remain frozen since 1951.
Officially, the Croatian Ante Jozic is Nuncio in the Philippines, though he lives in Hong Kong and acts as a link between the Holy See and the dioceses in China, said the agency that specialises in news from the Vatican.
He has been presented to the Chinese authorities as the new head of the Holy See Study Mission in Hong Kong, replacing Irishman Martin Nugent.
Nugent headed the mission since 2001 but only visited mainland China once after he was refused two other visa applications.
Diplomatic relations between China and the Holy See were broken in 1951, two years after the Communists came to power.
As conditions to a thaw in relations, Beijing has demanded that the Vatican cuts its diplomatic links with Taiwan and gives Chinese authorities the power to control the Catholic Church's activities on the mainland.