The article published by CathNews is actually an article in WSJ which can be reached by clicking on the incomplete sentence at the end of the CathNews/WSJ article, right below the words "FULL STORY" (it is very strange to not attach the link to the words "FULL STORY" but instead to the incomplete sentence--this blogger discovered the mistake by moving his cursor around at random and by clicking and clicking thinking that there was something wrong with his laptop). Anyway, the entire article is quoted below, part from CathNews and part from WSJ [2], [3]:
If Pope Francis and Chinese leaders sign off on the proposed deal, the Pope would accept eight bishops ordained by the Chinese government without the Vatican’s permission. But the deal would leave many other issues unresolved, including the role of China’s state-run Catholic institutions.
Negotiators are waiting for the Pope’s decision. If he agrees, the final decision will be up to Beijing.
It would be a diplomatic breakthrough for the Pope, who has eagerly pursued an opening to China that eluded his predecessors, though re-establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Vatican severed by Beijing in 1951, would remain a distant goal.
Vatican officials, however, are bracing for strong protests from Chinese Catholics in the so-called underground Church, some of whose members have suffered imprisonment or other punishment for defying government control of the Church, and who could regard the agreement as a lopsided win for Beijing and hence a betrayal of their fidelity.
The deal would defer many thorny issues, including the legal status of underground Chinese bishops loyal to Rome, who currently operate without government approval.
The agreement would also mean the end of Vatican approval for ordinations of underground bishops, meaning that all new leaders of the Catholic hierarchy in China would be men acceptable to Beijing.
Vatican negotiators aren’t happy about the deal but consider it the best they can hope for at this time, according to people familiar with the matter. It would be a historic breakthrough from Rome’s point of view, since the Communist government would for the first time recognize the pope’s jurisdiction as head of the Catholic Church in China.
Pope Francis has spoken publicly of his desire for better relations with Beijing, and has avoided angering China, refraining from criticism of its human-rights record and declining to meet the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing accuses of seeking Tibetan independence.
China requires all Catholics to register with the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, a state-controlled body that supervises the mainland Catholic community but isn’t recognized by the Vatican. The country’s Catholic population, which is estimated to number at least 10 million today, remains divided between official and unregistered underground communities.
Christianity has spread markedly in China over recent years, especially in the form of evangelical Protestantism, and has proved disproportionately popular among middle-class and elite Chinese. But the Catholic Church’s evangelical efforts have been hindered by the division between official and underground communities.
The Vatican and China have engaged in quiet negotiations since the late 1980s, and under St. John Paul II, adopted an informal arrangement for the mutual recognition of bishops. But over the past decade, Chinese authorities have periodically violated that understanding by unilaterally ordaining bishops without Rome’s permission. Today, eight of the bishops in the state-run Chinese bishops’ conference remain unrecognized by the pope.
Beijing has insisted that Pope Francis recognize these eight bishops—three of whom have been formally excommunicated by the Vatican—as a precondition for the agreement on future episcopal ordinations.
The agreement would allow Chinese authorities to present a set of candidates for the role of bishop of a particular diocese. The pope would then choose among the candidates or reject all the options and demand fresh names. The Vatican would demand the freedom to investigate candidates’ backgrounds thoroughly as a condition for their approval.
The Chinese government would still retain effective control over who becomes a bishop,” said Ren Yanli, a Catholicism specialist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “The final word remains with the Chinese government.”
Members of the underground community could protest strongly.
“If the Vatican should be perceived as abandoning them, it could be seen as a betrayal” and “cause serious divisions in the Chinese Catholic Church,” said Richard Madsen, a professor of sociology at the University of California at San Diego. “The government would probably actually like this. Its action over the years show that it would like to see the church weakened, and a deeper division in the church would help accomplish that.”
In late July, the Bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal John Tong, wrote an open letter aimed at assuaging concern among Catholics about the potential Vatican-China accord, saying that Pope Francis “would not accept any agreement that would harm the integrity of faith of the universal Church.”
Greg Burke, the Vatican spokesman, cautioned against the notion that any deal is imminent, but declined to elaborate on the status of talks.
Vatican negotiators remain apprehensive. While they believe a resolution before the end of November is possible, they are uncertain of Beijing’s intentions. President Xi Jinping’s government has been less confrontational toward the Catholic Church in the past two years, but the Patriotic Catholic Association and the State Administration for Religious Affairs have traditionally housed hard-liners unwilling to see the Vatican encroach on their authority or that of Beijing.
Calls to the religious affairs bureau went unanswered over the weekend, and the Patriotic Catholic Association didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Also quoted is a reader's comment which this blogger finds interesting [4]:
Gioklie Tanthe 4 hours ago
China has had the experience of being victimized by the colonialist west using religion. Churches and convents were often used to brainwash the Chinese youths to go against their parents in order to create schism in the Chinese society. Therefore China couldn't trust a foreign institution to manage the behavior of the Chinese people.
However China recognizes that there are Catholic believers in China who have their rights to their religion. Thus the benevolent Chinese government cater for their rights by providing and overseeing the organizational structure. Religion is the relationship between the holy book, humans and God. That's all that matters.
It is good that now the Pope can share his holiness and wisdom with the Chinese catholics while China can manage her security.
This blogger really has nothing meaningful to add since he does not know the selection process of bishops used by the Vatican and the one used by the Chinese government. The only question he has is in regard to the possibility that there could be "strong protests from Chinese Catholics in the so-called underground Church, some of whose members have suffered imprisonment or other punishment for defying government control of the Church, and who could regard the agreement as a lopsided win for Beijing and hence a betrayal of their fidelity." [5]
This blogger wants to know if the Chinese Catholics who are members of China's underground Church and who want to remain loyal to the Vatican know what they want to be loyal to, the ultra-liberal Vatican under this pope, or the ultra-conservative Vatican under Pope Pius X? [6], [7] This blogger seriously doubts that the underground Catholics in China know about the current schism that is causing cracks in the Catholic Church which in a way parallels the earthquake in central Italy that had caused a crack "on the facade of the [Basilica Papale] San Paolo fuori le Mura ([The Papal] Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls)" not too far from the Vatican (see photograph below). [8] The article of which the photograph below is a part reported that "[i]n the Vatican, St Paul Outside the Walls basilica was closed for several hours after some plaster fell," but a reader with the initials DLP commented that "while San Paolo fuori le Mura is property of the Holy See, it is not 'in the Vatican' - it is on the other side of Rome." [9] This is an important distinction, just as a liberal Vatican is distinct from a conservative one, and Chinese Catholics need to know the differences before they blindly say that they want to remain loyal to the Vatican. It is possible that after they learn about them, they may prefer to identify more with the ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X that is headquartered in Menzingen, Switzerland [10], than with the ultra-liberal pope in Vatican City, and to join with the society to "[pray] and [do] penance for the Pope, that he might have the strength to proclaim the Catholic faith and morals in their entirety." [11]
 |
| Basilica Papale San Paolo fuori le Mura--showing a crack after the 6.6 magnitude earthquake on October 30, 2016, centered near Norcia, Italy. |
[1] http://cathnews.com/cathnews/27453-vatican-and-china-reach-compromise-on-selection-of-bishops
[2] Ibid.
[3] http://www.wsj.com/articles/vatican-china-mull-deal-on-selection-of-bishops-after-decades-of-division-1477844997
[4] Ibid.
[5] http://cathnews.com/cathnews/27453-vatican-and-china-reach-compromise-on-selection-of-bishops
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_X
[7] http://www.christiantoday.com/article/ultra.conservative.society.of.st.pius.x.accuses.pope.francis.of.causing.church.painful.confusion/89579.htm
[8] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-earthquake-today-rome-vatican-tourism-safety-pope-francis-st-paul-basilica-a7387861.html
[9] Ibid.
[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Saint_Pius_X
[11] http://www.christiantoday.com/article/ultra.conservative.society.of.st.pius.x.accuses.pope.francis.of.causing.church.painful.confusion/89579.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment