HOPE ALERT: China's State-Controlled Church may invite Cardinal Zen!

This could be good news.

China's Catholic church may invite new Hong Kong cardinal to mainland

China's state-controlled Catholic church may invite Hong Kong's newly appointed cardinal, Joseph Zen, to visit the mainland in hopes of improving Sino-Vatican relations, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The church has recently discussed the possibility of inviting the outspoken critic of Beijing, the South China Morning Post newspaper quoted Chinese Bishop Fang Xingyao as saying.

Fang's comment was the first positive sign from the state-sanctioned church since Zen, a strong supporter of China's underground Catholics, was named cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI last month.

Read the rest.

Sure, there has been speculation that Pope Benedict's appointment of (the independently-worthy) Cardinal Zen also had political underpinnings (like challenging China's strong anti-Vatican stance), but how many people guessed that this appointment might elicit a positive response so quickly?

It will be interesting to see if the meeting actually occurs...