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On the morning of October 14 (Sunday) local time (afternoon Taipei time), Vice President Chen Chien-jen was at the Vatican to attend the canonization of Pope Paul VI and six other blesseds.
Before the ceremony, a Vatican protocol officer escorted the vice president and Mrs. Chen to greet Pope Francis. The pope asked the vice president to pass along his regards to President Tsai Ing-wen, and said he would pray for Taiwan.
Vice President Chen, on behalf of President Tsai and the people of Taiwan, also invited the pope to visit Taiwan, and presented him with a gift—a documentary on the Jesuit priest Fr. Andres Diaz de Rabago (born in 1917), who has long served in Taiwan. The pope is also a Jesuit, and said he was aware that Jesuits have done very good work in Taiwan. He then once again asked the vice president to convey his regards to President Tsai.
A Vatican protocol officer then escorted Vice President and Mrs. Chen to their seats in the square outside St. Peter's Basilica. Seated to either side of the vice president and his wife were Honduran Vice President Olga Alvarado and her husband, and Ugandan Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi. The ceremony was also attended by over 10 national delegations, including Italy (led by President Sergio Mattarella), Chile (led by President Sebastian Piñera), Spain (led by former Queen Sofia), and France (led by Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian). Important cardinals, archbishops, and clergy members from various ministries in the Holy See were on hand, and ambassadors and staff from many embassies to the Vatican also accepted the invitation to attend. In all, thousands of Catholics from around the world participated in the canonization mass, packing St. Peter's Square and the Via della Conciliazione.
The canonization ceremony began after the pope and co-celebrants arrived. Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, spoke about the lives of the seven blesseds to be canonized, and then asked the pope whether or not he agreed to their canonization. The pope, speaking in Latin, declared the seven blesseds to be saints. After the canonization ritual ended, the canonization mass immediately followed.
During the Communion Rites, the vice president and his wife, as practicing Catholics, took the Eucharist, and also exchanged the sign of peace with the Honduran vice president and her husband, and with the Ugandan vice president. After the event, Vice President Chen also chatted with the Korean ambassador to the Vatican and his wife, the Croatian ambassador (who, like Vice President Chen, is a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem), the Paraguayan ambassador to the Vatican, and Cardinal Peter Turkson, who has visited Taiwan and is the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
In an interview after the ceremony, Vice President Chen stated that, on behalf of President Tsai and the people of Taiwan, he had invited the pope to visit Taiwan and asked him to pray for Taiwan and world peace. The pope asked him in turn to pass on his greetings to President Tsai. The vice president then gave a small gift to the pope, who again asked him to convey his respects to President Tsai. Having twice been asked by the pope to give his regards to the president, the vice president was pleased that the pope remembered President Tsai as one of the world's important women leaders.
When the media asked Vice President Chen about his interaction with Honduran Vice President Olga Alvarado, the vice president replied that because Vice President Alvarado's husband is a doctor, they enjoyed a discussion about medical matters. Vice President Chen also welcomed them to come to Taiwan to see Taiwan's health insurance and long-term care systems, as they also felt that Taiwan and Honduras can learn from each other's medical systems.
In addition to Pope Paul VI, the other saints canonized on this occasion were: Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador; Fr. Francesco Spinelli of Italy; Fr. Vincenzo Romano of Italy; Maria Caterina Kasper, a nun who founded The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ; Nazaria Ignacia March Mesa, a nun who founded The Missionaries of the Crusade; and Nunzio Sulprizio, a devout Catholic from Italy.
