VATICAN CITY:THE VATICAN will send a senior Hong Kong churchman to the Olympics opening ceremony in August, a sign of warmer relations between the Holy See and Beijing, although both sides are wary of talk of a breakthrough.
John Tong Hon, Assistant Bishop of Hong Kong and designated successor to the territory's top church official Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, will represent the Vatican at the opening ceremony, which takes place on August 8th.
There have been negotiations between Beijing and the Vatican about religious freedom in China and the prospect of shifting official recognition from Taiwan to mainland China.
The Vatican has not had diplomatic ties with Beijing since 1951 and instead recognises Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China regards as a renegade province.
Another major sticking point has been the issue of appointing bishops - Beijing does not like the idea of the Vatican naming church officials, calling it "interference in domestic affairs" and prefers that its own candidates are favoured.
Most state-approved bishops have also won Vatican blessing, but occasionally Beijing appoints bishops who do not meet with Vatican approval.
Pope Benedict has explicitly set out a goal of improving relations with China and said the Beijing Olympics could be "of great value to humanity".
Since communist China threw out foreign clergy in the 1950s it has steadfastly refused to allow Catholics to recognise the authority of the Pope and instead they have to join the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which has five million members.
The Vatican estimates about eight million Chinese Catholics worship secretly in underground churches not recognised by the government.
The presence at the Olympics of Dr Tong is the latest in a series of signs of a thawing in once icy relations between the Vatican and Beijing's communist government.