Spiragli di dialogo ed apertura tra Chiesa Cattolica e "Governo Cinese"
Fonte "The Tablet" :
The Chinese Government has welcomed the role of the Catholic and Protestant Churches in providing social care in the country.
"The Government welcomes the support of the Church. We lack the resources to meet all the needs that we face, so we need religious organisations in order to do so," said Wang Xinhua, deputy inspector of the Shanghai Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission, representing the national Government's Religious Affairs department.
Mr Wang was speaking at a conference in Shanghai sponsored by the Bible Society on the role of Christianity in China.
Mr Wang added that the beliefs and love of the Churches were an "advantage" to society.
He said China's charitable sector was facing "a crisis of confidence" due to corruption scandals, saying that the Churches made a less corrupt partner for the Government to work with.
Though it is the world's second biggest economy, China has a social care crisis particularly in caring for an increasingly elderly population. The one-child policy has led to the burden of care falling on the shoulders of a smaller number of people.
According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, by 2040 nearly 20 per cent of China's rural population will be aged over 65.
At the conference, the Government called on the Church to provide care for the elderly, as well as offering drug prevention and rehabilitation, and work with those living with HIV.
Professor Zhu Xiaohong, of the School of Philosophy at Fudan University in Shanghai, noted that successive popes had "encouraged the Catholic Church to put an emphasis on social care".
"The Catholic Church as a universal institution has always made very clear its mission to serve people in need," she said. "I believe that the environment in China is more and more congenial for this to happen."
Fonte "The Tablet" :
The Chinese Government has welcomed the role of the Catholic and Protestant Churches in providing social care in the country.
"The Government welcomes the support of the Church. We lack the resources to meet all the needs that we face, so we need religious organisations in order to do so," said Wang Xinhua, deputy inspector of the Shanghai Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission, representing the national Government's Religious Affairs department.
Mr Wang was speaking at a conference in Shanghai sponsored by the Bible Society on the role of Christianity in China.
Mr Wang added that the beliefs and love of the Churches were an "advantage" to society.
He said China's charitable sector was facing "a crisis of confidence" due to corruption scandals, saying that the Churches made a less corrupt partner for the Government to work with.
Though it is the world's second biggest economy, China has a social care crisis particularly in caring for an increasingly elderly population. The one-child policy has led to the burden of care falling on the shoulders of a smaller number of people.
According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, by 2040 nearly 20 per cent of China's rural population will be aged over 65.
At the conference, the Government called on the Church to provide care for the elderly, as well as offering drug prevention and rehabilitation, and work with those living with HIV.
Professor Zhu Xiaohong, of the School of Philosophy at Fudan University in Shanghai, noted that successive popes had "encouraged the Catholic Church to put an emphasis on social care".
"The Catholic Church as a universal institution has always made very clear its mission to serve people in need," she said. "I believe that the environment in China is more and more congenial for this to happen."
