Pope Dalai Lama Meeting - Pope Francis has declined to meet with the Dalai Lama because their closeness could affect the Vatican's shaky relationship with China.
The exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism is visiting Rome to attend a three-day conference of Nobel Prize winners and had requested to meet with Pope Francis. However, his request was turned down by the Vatican.
"This time I will not meet Pope Francis. The Vatican administration says it is not possible because there could be problems," he told the Italian press.
The Vatican, who has been at odds with the Chinese communist regime since the fifties, is currently warming up to Beijing. When Pope Francis visited South Korea earlier in the year, he hinted at formal dialogue with China. Experts say the Pope Dalai Lama meeting could complicate things.
Reports indicate that the Catholic Church in China is divided into two communities; one that continues to recognizes the authority of the Pope, and another, who are under the Communist Party. While the Chinese government says the Vatican should not interfere in the state's religious matters, Pope Francis has said one of the preconditions for restoring formal ties is that that the church should be allowed to appoint bishops in the country. This is one of the issues that led to the protracted dispute between both powers in the past.
The other issue is the Vatican's alleged closeness to countries at odds with the Chinese government. The Dalai Lama, who has been in exile from Tibet for more than fifty years, is against the Chinese occupation of his country. Reports indicate that the Chinese government has often criticized politicians and other international figures who grant audience to the Dalai Lama.
Therefore, instead of the Pope Dalai Lama meeting, the Vatican is sending a video message of the Pope to the Tibetan spritual leader and other Nobel laureates in Rome through Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State. "Pope Francis obviously holds the Dalai Lama in very high regard but he will not be meeting any of the Nobel laureates," Vatican spokesman Father Frederico Lombardo said.
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