John Paul II, the 264th Catholic Pope, died on April 3 Vatican time and is mourned by 1.1 billion Catholics around the world. ROC president Chen Shui-bian was invited by the Vatican to attend the Pope's funeral on April 8. When President Chen left Taiwan for the Vatican on the afternoon of April 7, he turned another leaf in Taiwan's diplomatic history as the first incumbent ROC president to set foot in Europe in almost half a century.
In the afternoon of April 7, heading a delegation consisting of Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen, Taipei Grand Mosque imam Ma Shiao-chi, Father Hsing Chao-ming of the Taichung Diocese, and Father Jan van Aert of St. Anne Home, President Chen boarded a chartered China Airlines flight to Rome, where he attended the Pope's funeral in St. Peter's Square. ROC ambassador to the Vatican Tou Chou-seng also participated in diplomatic corps activities in Rome.
Although Taiwan and Italy don't maintain diplomatic relations, as President Chen applied for and obtained a visa and cleared customs, he was accorded courteous treatment by the highest levels of the Italian government. To signal its opposition to the Vatican's invitation of President Chen to attend the Pope's funeral, the mainland Chinese government declined to send an envoy to Rome and threatened to take retaliatory diplomatic steps.
Before President Chen arrived at the Vatican, his image was seen on a big screen on St. Peter's Square. Italian media and the BBC referred to Chen as "Taiwanese president" in their reports of the first visit by a head of state of the Republic of China to the Holy See.
President Chen said that he was representing Taiwan's 23 million people to pay his and their deepest condolences to the late Pope. On St. Peter's Square, people of all nations, races, and religions paid their last respects to a great pontiff.
John Paul II's funeral was attended by 150 heads of state. President Chen was seated in a prominent position, the fourth on the first row in the area reserved for heads of state, between Cameroon president Paul Biya and his wife and Brazilian president Lula da Silva and his wife. The seating arrangement was determined according to Vatican diplomatic protocol.
Before arriving in St. Peter's Square, President Chen exchanged pleasantries with former US president George H. W. Bush and shook hands and had a brief conversation with former US president Bill Clinton, who visited Taiwan recently. Chen thanked Clinton for America's support of Taiwan.
In the afternoon after the funeral mass, President Chen invited the ROC ambassador to the Holy See and staff members of the Taipei Representative Office in Italy to dine with him at Antico Circolo del Tiro a Volo, a prestigious club in Rome. Gustavo Selva, chairman of the Italian Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Affairs Committee, and Giampaolo Landi, chairman of the pro-Taiwan group in the Italian parliament, also attended the banquet and listened to a speech by President Chen.
President Chen said that Pope John Paul II was an "ambassador of world peace" and was respected and admired by people of all countries and faiths, a fact attested by the attendance at his funeral of more than 200 delegations from more than 150 countries on six continents. When the Pope visited Jerusalem, he embraced Jewish and Muslim leaders. Even when he was ailing, he criss-crossed the world preaching the gospel of forgiveness, love, justice, and peace. He demonstrated that "Peace cannot be achieved in one fell swoop. Bringing reconciliation to those divided by antagonism and conflict will require much more courage and love." Chen also said that if cross-strait relations are destined to be marked by ups and downs, we ought to take a broader view and adhere to the principles of goodwill, democracy, and peace in our exchanges and interactions.
After finishing his speech, President Chen took an evening chartered flight from Italy, ending a historic 19-hour trip.
In Rome airport, President Chen met President Ricardo Maduro of Honduras, a country with which the ROC has diplomatic relations. Maduro was also in Rome to attend the Pope's funeral. Because he was flying on to Japan to take part in the Inter-American Development Bank's annual meeting, President Chen invited him to fly with him to Taiwan. The two men said goodbye at Taipei airport.
En route to Taiwan, President Chen told President Maduro that he was deeply moved by the Pope's funeral, and that on returning home he would seek reconciliation with the opposition in Taiwan as well as in cross-strait relations. He was determined to work even harder for the welfare of the people of Taiwan. President Chen Shui-bian's journey of peace and mourning is over, but its impact is only beginning to be felt.
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