1984年在前任教宗若望保祿二世的邀請下，以台灣、香港與澳門為主的海外華人天主教會正式承擔「橋樑教會」的使命，為中國天主教會與普世教會搭起和解的橋樑，更試圖藉此開啟中國與梵蒂崗的溝通對話。本研究首先分析中共自改革開放以來宗教政策的演變以及對天主教與境外宗教組織的態度，進而以香港與澳門天主教會為研究對象，探討其面對橋樑教會使命的態度以及工作內容，同時，分析兩地教會於殖民結束、政權移交後，在中共的管轄下，進行橋樑工作所遇到之侷限與困境。港澳兩地因其不同的殖民背景、社會風氣，使得天主教會與中央政府的關係截然不同，影響其對中國教會從事橋樑工作的成效。值得注意的是在中共對於梵蒂崗不得干涉中國內政的堅持下，包括主教選任，以及梵蒂崗必須與台灣斷交等原則，港澳天主教會是否能完全發揮「橋樑教會」的功能，其變數仍操縱在中共手上。 In 1984 Catholic Pope John Paul II suggests the church of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau to serve as the “bridge church” to initiate the reconciliation and dialogue between the Catholic Church and the universal church. This thesis first focuses on religious policy and attitude of foreign religious groupings of People’s Republic of China since the “open door” policy. Second, I attempt to analyze the church of Hong Kong and Macau; how they fulfill this evangelical mission. Meanwhile, the limitation and difficulty will be explored of the “bridge church” which is confronted by the different social and political conflict between Sino-Vatican relationship, especially under the sovereign of PRC at the end of the colony and handover individually in Hong Kong and Macau. PRC usually strongly claims her domestic affair’s authority, including the bishop appointment and to end up the diplomatic relationship with Taiwan, which test the church in Hong Kong and Macau to properly act to be the “bridge church” in the future.
