More than a year and a half has passed since Benedict’s Letter to the Catholic Church in the People‘s Republic of China was signed. In it, he effectively asked China’s loyal and long-suffering underground Catholic Church to disband, come aboveground and join the Patriot Association Church, which is the Communist government-controlled church.

Cardinal Zen praises the Letter as a "starting point for dialogue" between Communist leaders & the Vatican 
After the letter there was a first explosion of overly optimistic reports. The supposedly reputable ‘China experts” proposed that the Chinese government would immediately change its policy and even establish normal diplomatic relations with the Vatican before the opening of the Olympic games in Beijing. Things, of course, didn’t turn out that way. The great thaw expected by the Vatican hasn’t come, and China continues to persecute the underground Bishops and …