KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — There might solely be a number of days earlier than the Faculty of Cardinals gathers contained in the Sistine Chapel to elect the following chief of the Catholic Church, and, for the primary time in historical past, an Asian pope is an actual chance.Of the 23 cardinals from Asia eligible to vote, one identify comes up time and again, that of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, generally known as the “Philippine Francis.”The 67-year-old had a detailed relationship with Pope Francis and served as his envoy to Asia through the 2015-16 particular Jubilee Yr, throughout which…
Author: Eryk Michael Smith
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – Some in Taiwan are watching with rising unease as the Catholic Church prepares to elect a brand new chief following the dying of Pope Francis. The Holy See is the one European state that maintains diplomatic relations with Taipei, however some worry the rising ties between the Vatican and Beijing may change issues.Taiwan is house to fewer than 300,000 Catholics. Against this, estimates put the variety of Catholics in communist China at wherever between eight and 12 million, with one other 390,000 in Chinese language-ruled Hong Kong. Regardless of these figures, the Holy See continues to acknowledge Taiwan as the only…
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — Taiwanese President William Lai is struggling to comprise each open hostility and personal “wooing” by China. In late March, 4 Taiwanese troopers, three of whom have been a part of a unit that gives safety for Taiwan’s Presidential Workplace, have been jailed for as much as seven years after being convicted of promoting footage of delicate info to China. The verdicts got here after final month’s speech during which Lai condemned the Chinese language Communist Occasion (CCP) within the harshest phrases utilized by a Taiwanese chief in trendy historical past. In his remarks, the president stated Taiwan won’t be…
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan: As China continues and intensifies its marketing campaign of aggression towards the island, Taiwan’s military is struggling to achieve recruitment objectives for skilled personnel, and the challenges to reversing this example are formidable. Between 2022 and 2024, some 12,000 service individuals left Taiwan’s navy. Officers in each the federal government and the navy are voicing concern, and as soon as once more, there’s discuss of enlisting overseas migrants into the armed forces, an concept that has been underneath extraordinarily casual “discussions” for over twenty years. The only purpose for the drop-off is math. This self-ruled democracy has the second-lowest birthrate in…