Vatican makes fresh overture to China, reaffirms that Catholic Church is no threat to sovereignty

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — The Vatican has made another big overture to China. It is reaffirming it poses no threat to Beijing’s sovereignty and admitting that Catholic Western missionaries made “errors” in past centuries. The Vatican on Tuesday hosted the Shanghai bishop to a high-level commemoration of a landmark 1924 meeting that affirmed the need for foreign missionaries in China to give way to local church leaders. The presence of Shanghai Bishop Joseph Shen Bin was in itself noteworthy. It marked the first time in memory that a mainland bishop has been allowed by Beijing to participate in a public Vatican event as the keynote speaker.