SHANGHAI BISHOP JIN ON PAPAL LETTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SHANGHAI 000412 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND DRL/IRF - EKAO NSC FOR DENNIS WILDER E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/5/2017 TAGS: PHUM KIRF PGOV CH VT SUBJECT: SHANGHAI BISHOP JIN ON PAPAL LETTER REF: SHANGHAI 214 AND PREVIOUS CLASSIFIED BY: Veomayoury Baccam, Acting Section Chief, Political/Economic Section , U.S. Consulate Shanghai. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) During a conversation with POLOFF during Consulate's Independence Day reception on July 3, Shanghai Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian said he was pleased by Pope Benedict XVI's June 30 letter to Chinese Catholics, which he said was the Pope's way of "extending his hand" to the Chinese government. He said, however, that the Chinese government was not happy with the letter because it did not recognize the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association's authority and did not make any compromises on the appointment of bishops in China. He predicted that relations between the Chinese government and the Vatican would continue to be difficult and was not optimistic about prospects for reconciliation. ¶2. (C) He blamed State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) Administrator Ye Xiaowen for China's inflexible attitude and said that he was praying for Ye to be replaced at the 17th Party Congress. He added that Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association Vice Chairman Liu Bainian had little influence and said that the SARA Administrator Ye was the key person in the government on this issue. ¶3. (C) The fact that Bishop Jin was able to attend Consulate's reception was an indication that his health continues to be stable. He spent nearly 45 minutes at the reception, standing during the playing of the Chinese and American anthems. He had problems hearing some of Poloff's questions, but was able to converse easily and appeared to be comfortable interacting with guests. JARRETT