Vatican City - Hong Kong's outspoken cardinal said it was time for the Vatican to take a more uncompromising line toward the Chinese government, which broke with the church more than a half-century ago and has sought to maintain control of Catholic institutions.
The Vatican has long indicated that it wants to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing, even at the cost of moving its embassy from Taiwan. Currently, worship is only allowed in government-controlled churches, but as many as 10 million Catholics are estimated to belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome.
The church, however, will not compromise on the tradition dictating that only the pope _ and not a local church _ can appoint bishops.
In recent years, China's state-sanctioned Catholic Church, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, and the Vatican have tacitly agreed on the appointment of a number of bishops. The agreement broke down when the state-sanctioned Church appointed three bishops, angering the Vatican.
Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, an outspoken champion of religious liberty, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he believes it is now time for Holy See to take a harsher stance on other matters as well.
"I think in this moment the most important thing we have to do is to assess the situation, to assess what we have done in many years and realize that we must change strategy," he said. "Because in so many years we have accepted compromises which in the beginning were good and necessary, but after so many years we can see there is a bad side effect."
For instance, the Vatican has over the years allowed the government-controlled church to impose conditions or limitations for running programs or teaching courses in seminaries or courses for clergy in China. For example, several of the seminaries there are not allowed to invite teachers from abroad.
"Maybe people don't like to take a hard line, but I would say clearer lines" are needed, Zen said.
Liu Bainian, the often hard-line vice chairman of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, told Hong Kong Cable TV that he wants China and the Vatican to quickly establish formal relations.
"This has been my hope for the past 10 years. We've done a lot of things. We hope to adjust our strategy so that it is in the interests of improving Sino-Vatican relations."
Zen was in Rome to debate the Chinese problem in discussions last week with officials at the Holy See. Pope Benedict XVI did not attend the talks, but was briefed on them, and Zen said he also has been writing letters to the pontiff.
The Hong Kong cardinal could not discuss what was said during the talks and declined to reveal most of what he wrote to Benedict.
However, "one thing I can say is that I'm telling him that the people in China expect from him clear direction," Zen said.
The last months have seen a series of arrests of priests in China, according to Asia News, a Vatican-affiliated news agency. At least 17 underground bishops have disappeared, been arrested or detained in isolation. Twenty priests have been arrested and at least five, detained on Dec. 27 in Hebei, are still in prison, the agency reported last week.
However, Zen said he believes the upper echelons of China's government may be readier for change than the state-sanctioned church.
"The foreign office is more interested in establishing diplomatic relations and the higher authority has a more international perspective," Zen said. "So they must understand that a normalization of relations between Beijing and the Holy See may be conducive to more prestige for the nation."
Zen, 75, said he has asked the pope to let him step down as Hong Kong's bishop so he can focus on helping the Vatican establish ties with China.
"It's impossible to do the two jobs together. So I asked the Holy Father to consider my retirement," Zen said.
He said he met with Benedict to make the request, but so far has not received an answer.