For more news visit ☛ http://english.ntdtv.com Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision Add us on Facebook ☛ http://facebook.com/NTDTelevision

The Pope has called on Catholics across the world to pray for Catholics in China. The Chinese regime exerts tight control over Catholics in the mainland and doesn't recognize the authority of the Vatican.

Pope Benedict the sixteenth expressed concern that the Chinese Communist regime is still suppressing Chinese Catholics who are loyal to the Vatican.

The Chinese regime doesn't recognize the pope's authority and forces Catholics in China to be part of a state-run church.

On Wednesday the pope called for Catholics across the world to pray for them.

[Pope Benedict XVI]:
"The church in China, particularly now, needs the prayers of the universal church. I invite first of all, all Chinese Catholics to continue and intensify their prayers, mostly to Mary, the strong virgin. But to pray for the church in China must be a commitment for all Catholics in the world. Those (Chinese) faithful have a right to our prayers."

China has 8 to 12 million Catholics, split between the state-backed church that doesn't recognize the pope's authority, and underground churches.

Last year the Chinese regime forced several bishops and priests loyal to the pope to attend meetings of the state-backed church, to the displeasure of the Vatican.

The regime refuses to establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican until the Vatican severs diplomatic ties with the Republic of China—the official name for Taiwan.

The nationalist government of China fled to Taiwan when communist forces conquered the mainland in 1949.

The Chinese regime exerts pressure on countries to not to recognize the Republic of China under its "One China Policy."

The Vatican is one of 23 states that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than with communist-controlled Mainland China.