The meeting of the two greatest preachers of our time will not happen in Rome. Pope Dalai Lama meeting will not proceed in an attempt to avoid conflicts with China. This was the allegations surrounding the Vatican after the Pope Dalai Lama meeting was not set even the Tibetan leader will be attending the 14th Nobel Peace Summit in Rome.
The spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists will be arriving in Rome on Friday to attend a conference of Nobel peace laureates. However, Pope Dalai Lama meeting will be impossible to take place. The decision of the Pope not to meet Dalai Lama has diplomatic basis in an attempt not to disappoint Beijing.
"This time I won't meet Pope Francis. The Vatican administration says it's not possible because it could cause inconveniences." These were the statements of the Dalai Lama when he reached Rome on Wednesday. He added, if it happened, he would be "very happy."
The Pope Dalai Lama meeting will not happen with the Pope's wish to retain its cordial relations with China. Since 1951, there had been no diplomatic ties between Beijing and the Vatican. China does not permit the Pope to appoint bishops and restricts the rights of the Catholics in Beijing, the DW reports.
Vatican's chief spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, stated that the Pope holds high regards to the Dalai Lama but there will be no Pope Dalai Lama meeting for obvious reasons. He also added that the Pope will instead send a video to greet all the Nobel laureates in Rome.
When the Pope visited South Korea in August, he was the first Pope to be allowed to enter boundaries of China. The Telegraph reports that the Pope greeted Xi Jinping, China's president in a radio message. The Pope's alleged visit to South Korea was the time that rude repression campaigns for Chinese Christians were tight.
As there were 12 million Catholics in China, the Pope is maintaining a diplomatic relation with the Chinese country to avoid disappointing China that even Pope Dalai Lama meeting will not happen in Rome.
This is not the first time that the Pope Dalai Lama meeting will not happen due to the same reason. It was in 2006 when the Dalai Lama was permitted to meet Benedict XVI. Dalai Lama rules Tibet, a section occupied by China in 1950.
The photo shows the Dalai Lama arrives in the 14th Nobel Peace Summit in Rome.
TNC Europe representative @tenam welcomes HH #DalaiLama to the 14th Nobel Peace Summit in Rome #Tibet #Tibetan pic.twitter.com/KD0OzUBUbX
— TNC (@TNCHQ) December 12, 2014
With the current happening now in Rome, people started protesting for the “False Dalai Lama” in the streets of the Italy’s capital. The protesters were chanting “Dalai Lama lament” to spread awareness on human rights abuse of the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration had imposed to the millions of Dorje Shugden practitioners worldwide. People started protesting for the False Dalai Lama in the streets of Rome:
Serenading the False #DalaiLama on the streets of #Rome! https://t.co/fY9CWeww0b #NobelPeaceSummit #freedomofspeech pic.twitter.com/KUcRR03g9g — Shugden Library (@ShugdenLibrary) December 12, 2014
Pope Dalai Lama meeting didn’t happen but the Dalai Lama expressed his understanding on the matter. The Dalai Lama was joined by other world leaders including Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, Iranian lawyer and rights campaigner Shirin Ebadi, and Yemeni women's rights advocate Tawakkol Karman.
