Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong said the pope's letter to Chinese Catholics does not have a secret political agenda.

"The doctrine painstakingly explained by (Pope) Benedict XVI is nothing but the most traditional and universally accepted Catholic principles, belonging to the religious field, with no secret political agenda, even less with an intention of attacking anybody," Cardinal Zen said in a statement June 30, the date the papal letter was made public.

The cardinal expressed hope that Chinese leaders "would read the pope's letter from this perspective and understand the true, unchangeable nature of the Catholic Church."

"The voice of our bishops and priests in China is often prevented from reaching our leaders; now that the letter of the pope is in the hands of our leaders, our bishops and priests can thus refer to it directly as a common starting point for dialogue," he said.

Cardinal Zen said he hoped that China's bishops and priests "stand united with the Holy Father."

Calling it a "historical first that the pope has written a letter to the Catholic community in a particular region," the cardinal said Pope Benedict wanted to show special concern for "his children and give them some guidelines in this seemingly crucial moment, so that they might free themselves from their unfortunate predicament."

Cardinal Zen said he admired "the precious balance achieved by the Holy Father between his passion for the truth and his love for his children."

"Only an outstanding theologian and a tender father could satisfy at the same time the demands of the truth and the kindness toward people," he said.

Meanwhile, Anthony Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the government-approved Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, told journalists that the letter showed "good intentions."

He told Agence France Presse: "The pope, through his papal letter, has expressed his love and concern for China's believers.... This is different from earlier papal letters.

"Earlier papal letters were opposed to communism and the socialist system. They wanted to (punish) members of China's patriotic church. Now the situation is not the same. The pope wants to better understand China's church," he said.

---CNS