A few days ago Pope Benedict XVI named several new members of the Catholic College of Cardinals, including Stanislaw Dziwisz of Cracow, Poland (the former secretary to Pope John Paul II), Sean O'Malley of Boston, and, in a clear case of gauntlet-throwing to the Chinese Communists, George Zen of Hong Kong. The Catholic Church of China has been dissociated from the Vatican for decades, and previous popes have had little if any luck in establishing a connection or dialogue to the Chinese congregation. Benedict's elevation of Archbishop Zen to cardinal status seems to be a twofold strategy, opening a link to Chinese Catholics through the Hong Kong see and pressing Beijing on the issue of religious freedom. I won't go as far to suggest that Zen is papabile (a man with the makings of a pope) and could be a future pope who could do for China would John Paul did for Eastern Europe. No one could have predicted John Paul's role in ending the Cold War. If the Church has any influence in bringing change to China, it will be in a manner in which we do not yet recognize and cannot predict.
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