Cardinal-elect John Tong Hon has asked Catholics to pray for the intercession of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta for the restart of China-Vatican dialogue during a Mass yesterday to welcome her relic to Hong Kong.

In his homily to about 1,000 Catholics, the bishop of Hong Kong said both Blessed Teresa and Blessed John Paul, whose relic (a lock of his hair) was interred permanently at the cathedral in November, shared concerns about China.

“Mother Teresa not only visited Hong Kong and mainland China, but always wanted to establish her congregation in the mainland,” said the cardinal-elect, adding that “her dream was partially fulfilled” with the Missionaries of Charity arriving in the Special Administrative Region in 1983.

When John Paul II became pope, “although he could not contact mainland Catholics, he missed them and prayed for them every day.”

In 1986, the late pope made the ground-breaking decision to send Vatican representatives to dialogue with Chinese officials, Cardinal-elect Tong said.

Dialogue was suspended after China objected to the canonization of 120 Chinese martyr-saints in 2000, and halted in 2011 after two illicit ordinations, which resulted in the Vatican excommunicating the bishops, he said.

“Only through honest dialogue can we resolve differences and reach a win-win solution. Let us pray more often on this,” he said.

He hoped dialogue will soon resume and succeed and that the Missionaries of Charity nuns can formally establish themselves in the mainland so that Chinese people can benefit from the nuns care.

Father Dominic Chan Chi-ming, vicar general of the diocese, said the relic–a drop of blood on a tiny piece of sack cloth — will be “housed permanently in Saints Cosmas and Damian’s Church in a grassroots district to symbolize the simplicity of Mother Teresa’s life.”

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