China's state-backed Catholic church today welcomed a newly-announced Vatican initiative to repair ruptured relations with Beijing and said a promised letter from the pope to Chinese Catholics could be helpful.

Liu Bainian, the often hard-line vice chairman of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, struck a conciliatory tone in the wake of the Vatican’s announced diplomatic foray.
“I hope and I also believe that the Pope’s letter will show his love of China’s churches,” Liu said. “I am hopeful that it can improve Chinese-Vatican ties.”

The Vatican announcement, made on Saturday after two days of high-level debate on China, said the Holy See sought a dialogue with the aim of restoring diplomatic relations with Beijing and said Pope Benedict XVI was preparing a message for Chinese Catholics.

The diplomatic initiative comes as China is experiencing a religious boom while the Vatican remains hobbled by a half-century-long dispute with Beijing. A communist government-backed Catholic church refuses to recognise the Vatican’s authority while many clergy and ordinary Catholics remain loyal to the pope and have been persecuted for it.