Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday made his most significant attempt to unite millions of Chinese Catholics, urging the underground faithful and followers of the state-run church to overcome decades of animosity and distrust.
Benedict lamented the lack of religious freedoms in China and called the government-sanctioned church "incompatible" with Catholic doctrine for appointing bishops without Vatican approval. But he also said he hoped the Vatican could reach an agreement with Chinese authorities on nominations.
In an unprecedented gesture, Benedict revoked 1988 Vatican regulations that had called for limiting contact with China's official clergy and excommunicating bishops consecrated without the pope's consent.
The pope's comments came in a letter translated into five languages -- including Mandarin in both traditional and simplified characters -- a sign the Vatican wanted it widely read. It issued two accompanying documents highlighting key points and posted the letter on the Vatican's Web site.
However, Liu Bainian, the vice chairman of the state-run China Patriotic Catholic Association, said Saturday that he had not seen the letter and that the church had no immediate plans to read it to the faithful or distribute it.
China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Communist Party took power. Worship is allowed only in government-controlled churches, which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.
But millions of Chinese belong to unofficial congregations that are not registered with the authorities and have remained loyal to Rome.
The reconciliation between state-sanctioned and unsanctioned churches called for in the pope's letter has already occurred to a large degree in recent years. Across China, where there are an estimated 10 million Catholics, worshipers and priests frequently move among churches without regard for whether they are approved by the government. Local officials in many areas look the other way when Chinese openly attend unsanctioned Masses.
Several times in the letter, Benedict praised Catholics who had resisted pressure to join the official church. But he also urged them to forgive and reconcile with followers of the state-run church for the sake of unity.
"Indeed, the purification of memory, the pardoning of wrongdoers, the forgetting of injustices suffered and the loving restoration to serenity of troubled hearts . . . can require moving beyond personal positions or viewpoints, born of painful or difficult experiences," he wrote.
Benedict referred repeatedly to the "Catholic Church in China" without distinguishing between the divisions.
"He underlines the unity of the church, which is fundamental because with this affirmation, reconciliation becomes possible," said the Rev. Bernardo Cervellera, director of AsiaNews, a missionary news agency with close ties to the Vatican.
China's Foreign Ministry called on the Vatican not to interfere in Beijing's internal affairs in the name of religion. It also urged the Vatican to sever ties with rival Taiwan.
But the Vatican said it was prepared "at any time" to move its diplomatic representation from Taiwan -- which split from China in 1949 -- to Beijing once an agreement with the government is reached.