HUA HIN, Thailand - In China there is only
one Catholic Church, and everyone wants to be led
by the pope.
Thus thundered the bishop of
Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen, in a growing
dispute over the appointment of Roman Catholic
bishops in China. What is unusual about this
latest brouhaha is that it has broken out into the
public.
That occurred this month when Pope
Benedict XVI publicly condemned Beijing for moving
ahead with the consecration of two new bishops in
the "official" church, known as the Chinese
Catholic Patriotic Association, without papal
approval.
The issue of appointing bishops
is one of the main obstacles to
normalization and
reconciliation of the two churches. Until the
latest dispute broke out, the two sides had made
considerable progress toward a working agreement
whereby the Vatican appointed bishops, subject to
confirmation by the Chinese government.
Despite what Cardinal Zen says, two
Catholic churches have existed on the Chinese
mainland since the Communist Party took power -
the Patriotic Association, whose members are
allowed to practice their faith openly, and an
"underground" church of Catholics loyal to Rome.
The former exists in a spiritual twilight
zone, cut off from normal intercourse with the
Holy See and the worldwide Catholic community. Its
priests and bishops are "self-appointed" and
"self-consecrated", lacking the blessing of God's
anointed representative on Earth.
The
"underground church" exists in an official
twilight zone, technically illegal, though usually
tolerated, its priests and bishops running the
risk of arrest for practicing Mass in public. As
recently as a year ago, Beijing sent some elderly
priests and bishops to prison.
So in some
ways, the dispute was a revelation of just how far
the two churches have moved toward each other in
recent years. The pope took grave exception to the
appointment of the two new bishops because, for
the past several years, Rome has been appointing
bishops of the official church, subject to
confirmation by Beijing.
It is similar to
the practice in some other countries with Catholic
populations that are run by a communist party,
such as Vietnam and Cuba, and is a key element,
along with the Vatican's official ties with
Taiwan, to the reconciliation and merger of the
two churches.
Beginning in the late 1970s,
when China began to open up to the rest of the
world, many bishops of the Patriotic Association
quietly sought the blessing and forgiveness of the
pope, which was usually granted.
The
government did not allow the official church to
make the pope's approval public, but word spread,
allowing the priests and bishops and lay people to
live in peace with their faith while still part of
the government-controlled church.
Several
years ago the two sides evidently came to an
understanding that allowed the Vatican to choose
bishops of the official as well as the underground
church. Last year, the bishops of Shanghai and
Xian, two important Chinese cities, were chosen by
the Holy See and then "confirmed" by the Chinese
Council of Bishops.
The Vatican apparently
had reservations about the appointment of Ma
Yinglin as the bishop of Kunming, provincial
capital of Yunnan. Ma, the secretary general of
the Council of Bishops, was a clerical bureaucrat,
with little pastoral experience and no particular
affinity for his new diocese in southern China.
The official church hierarchy apparently
lost patience with the Vatican's foot-dragging in
this case and went ahead with the consecration of
Ma and of the new bishop of Wuhu in Anhui
province, who was also appointed without the
pope's approval.
Liu Bainian, secretary
general of the Patriotic Association, was defiant
in the face of the pope's criticism. The official
church, he said, "had been selecting and
consecrating bishops for more than 50 years
without anyone's interference".
That
brought a strong retort from Cardinal Zen, who
never minces words, especially about the Chinese
leadership. He called on both parties to suspend
negotiations because Beijing had "destroyed
trust".
"First they engage in dialogue,
and then they deal in fait accompli."
Why did this confrontation flare up at a
time when it looked as if the two churches were
making progress in resolving their differences and
moving toward reconciliation? After all, it was
widely believed that reunification of the Chinese
churches was a priority of the new pope.
His predecessor, John Paul II, visited 129
countries during his long papacy, but he never set
foot in China. But pope John Paul carried too much
baggage, stemming from his role in helping to end
communist rule in his native Poland.
The
communist rulers in Beijing don't have to look to
Poland to see some of their worst fears realized.
The bishop of Hong Kong is probably exactly the
kind of politically active cleric that the Chinese
communists fear will emerge in China proper if
they loosen control over Church affairs on the
mainland.
Cardinal Zen has been a leader
of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and has
helped to promote and organize large
demonstrations against the Hong Kong government.
He has even marched in those parades.
Meanwhile, China installed another new
bishop last Sunday without the pope's approval,
adding fuel to the fire. And more such
appointments are on the way. Some 40 bishoprics of
the 90 or so official dioceses in China are said
to be vacant since many of the original elderly
bishops have passed on. The need to fill them,
says Liu Bainian, is "urgent".
Todd
Crowell is a correspondent for Asia Times
Online based in Thailand.
(Copyright
2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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