People walk past an ice sculpture of a Catholic church in Harbin, China, Dec. 22. (CNS/Reuters)

The Vatican’s Commission for the Catholic Church in China is currently holding its second plenary session.

The meeting in Rome runs from today through Wednesday.

According to a communiqué from the Holy See press office, participants include “superiors of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia with responsibility in this area, as well as certain representatives of the Chinese episcopate and of religious congregations.”

The Church’s China hands are meeting to discuss “some aspects of the Church’s life” in the light of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 letter to Chinese Catholics and “in particular to reflect on important and current religious questions,” according to a news analysis published today by the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN).

“The statement did not spell out what aspects of the Church’s life would be reviewed, nor did it reveal what religious questions would be discussed,” UCAN reports. “However, diplomatic and other sources in Rome expect the commission would give serious attention to two issues relating to religious freedom and observance of the Pope’s 2007 letter.

“The first issue relates to the Dec. 19, 2008, commemoration in Beijing of 50 years of ‘self-election and self-ordination of bishops.’ The Holy See did not approve of the event but did not publicly protest against it.

“The second issue is the concern that Vatican-approved bishops in the open Church community might be induced or forced to participate in electing the chairpersons of the government-recognized Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China. This is expected to take place in the second half of the year, during the next National Congress of Catholic Representatives.”

Read the rest of the UCAN analysis here.