Recently, Pope Benedict XVI received the President of the Republic of Korea, Roh Moo-hyun.
The Holy Father offered to the president his prayers and greetings for all the people of the Korean Peninsula, encouraged greater respect for the sanctity of life and marriage, and urged peace and an end to the nuclear arms race in North Korea.

Establishing ties between the Vatican and China will enable the Holy See to work with the government for the good of the Chinese people, says Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The archbishop of Fuzhou, who spent nearly one-third of his life in prison, has died of throat cancer. He was 94.
Benedict XVI, upon hearing of the archbishop's illness, had sent him a letter and a bishop's ring from the Holy See as a sign of communion with the Pope.

Cardinal Joseph Zen of HK says he believes it is time for the Vatican to change its strategy with China and take a more uncompromising line as it works toward establishing diplomatic relations with the communist country.

Jan 25, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI received Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The meeting is expected to signal a new age in relations between the Holy See and the developing nation which boasts one of the largest Catholic populations in Asia.

24 priests, religious and laypeople were killed in 2006 while carrying out their missionary work—just one person less than
2005’s figure.
The Vatican missionary agency published the report on deaths, not only for missionaries but also of all the ecclesiastical
personnel who died violently or sacrificed their live, aware of the risk they faced, rather than abandon their commitment to
give witness and engage in the apostolate.