China Blocks Pope’s Hong Kong Trip
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Times Wire Services
HONG KONG — China has blocked a proposed visit by Pope John Paul II to Hong Kong during his Asian tour later this year, citing the Vatican’s diplomatic ties with rival Taiwan, Hong Kong Bishop Joseph Zen said today.
The Vatican, which has had no ties with Beijing since 1949, had hoped China would relent so the pope could say Mass in November for Hong Kong’s 250,000 Chinese Roman Catholics as well as about 120,000 Philippine Catholics in the territory.
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