Taipei - The Archbishop of the Taipei Archdiocese will invite Pope Benedict XVI to visit Taiwan next year, a newspaper said on Saturday.

According to the Taipei Times, Archbishop John Hung led a delegation to the Vatican on Saturday to report for the first time to the pope on the state of Taiwan's dioceses, and invite the pontiff to the island.

The invitation seeks his attendance at next year's celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Catholic Church in Taiwan.

The Vatican trip marks the first time Taiwanese bishops will report to Benedict XVI, who became pope in 2005. The bishops met late Pope John Paul II in 2002.

If the pope cannot come to Taiwan, a special envoy from the Vatican is expected to attend the celebrations next year, the paper quoted Hung as saying.

The eight-member delegation includes bishops and auxiliary bishops. They plan to stay in Rome until December 15.

The delegation will also report on the dioceses' exchanges with Chinese churches, including donations of books.

The policies of the Roman Catholic Church require diocesan bishops to visit the pope and report on the state of their dioceses every five years.

To celebrate the 150th anniversary, Taiwan's bishops and parish priests hope to baptize 15,000 people next year.

In an interview with the Central News Agency this week, Hung said he was not sure if the pope could visit Taiwan in 2009 because of a previously scheduled trip to the Philippines to attend the Asia Catholic Youth Festival.

The Catholic Church was established in Taiwan in 1859 when three Spanish Dominican priests from the Philippines and five Chinese missionaries arrived in Kaohsiung and built Taiwan's first Catholic church. Catholicism first arrived in the 17th century when Taiwan was occupied by the Spanish.

Peter Liu, bishop of the Kaohsiung diocese, said the number of Catholic followers in Taiwan has reached about 300,000 and there are 724 Catholic churches, 682 priests and 1,052 nuns in Taiwan, the Taipei Times said.

The Vatican has been trying to improve ties with China so that it can take better care of the 12 million Catholics in China. A papal visit to Taiwan would likely strain those relations.

The Vatican moved its embassy from China to Taiwan in 1957 after the founding of the atheist People's Republic of China in 1949.

But in recent years, the Vatican has been working to normalize relations with Beijing, which demands that the Holy See cut ties with Taiwan and stop interfering in China's religious affairs.

A Vatican official said that if China agrees to resume ties with the Vatican, the Church will move its embassy from Taipei to Beijing immediately.

In that event, it is not clear how the Vatican would handle its ties with Taipei, because the Church does not have a precedent for taking the initiative to severe diplomatic ties. (dpa)