Integration of Church and State

[MavKikiNYC]

Pope Strongly Condemns Chinese Church

By IAN FISHER and KEITH BRADSHER


ROME, May 4 — Pope Benedict XVI today issued an unusually strong condemnation of the state-controlled Catholic Church in China, noting that its consecration of two bishops without Vatican approval was an offense punishable by excommunication.

"The Holy Father took notice of this with profound displeasure," said the Vatican statement by the pope's spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls. "This represents a grave wound to the unity of the church, for which, as it is noted, there are severe canonical sanctions," that is excommunication for the offenders, in this case the bishops involved.

The statement seemed to mark at least a temporary halt to talks between the Vatican and China to re-establish diplomatic relations. Those talks took a higher priority since Benedict was elected pope a year ago, but tension has been rising again in recent months, capped most recently by the consecration of two bishops since Sunday by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

China has two Catholic hierarchies, the government-authorized church, set up by Mao to control the church, and an underground church of bishops and other priests loyal to Rome.

The government church contended that it acted to fill shortages and not to slight the Vatican or the Pope.

But the Vatican's statement claimed that bishops and priests were under "strong pressure and threats" from "organisms outside the church... unless they would take part in the Episcopal ordination." It said further that the Vatican "follows with particular attention the tormented march of the Catholic Church in China," noting that it had hoped that "similar deplorable episodes would at this point be consigned to the past."

The rapidly escalating confrontation this week between the Vatican and China reflects strongly held positions on both sides. Beatrice Leung, a specialist in Sino-Vatican relations at Wenzao Ursuline College in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, said that the pope's strong statement was likely to lead to an indefinite suspension of talks between Beijing and the Vatican that had seemed, until recently, like they could lead to a rapprochement.

For China, the dispute is about retaining control over a potentially powerful institution with mass appeal at a time of rising social unrest.

China has a centuries-long history of religious movements helping to bind together protests against the rule of fading dynasties.

The Chinese leadership was stunned in 1999 when 10,000 adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual movement held an illegal demonstration in the heart of Beijing to demand official recognition, and Chinese security forces have trying to suppress the movement ever since, imprisoning its adherents under often brutal conditions.

"Social unrest is gathering momentum, and the example of Falun Gong is a concrete example," Ms. Leung said. "China is very much afraid that religion can become a binding force of a social movement." Benoit Vermander, an expert on Sino-Vatican relations at the Ricci Institute, a Jesuit organization in Taipei, Taiwan, said that the pope's statement had been surprisingly strong.

While initial contacts between Beijing and Vatican officials went well, the details of the negotiations have proved much more difficult, and this may have derailed the relationship this spring. The Vatican has sought greater influence over the selection of bishops, and has insisted that bishops retain authority over religious activities in their dioceses, two demands that China has been leery of accepting.

"China is not yet ready to let go" of its controls over the church, Ms. Leung said.
Relations between Beijing and the Holy See deteriorated on Sunday, when the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association arranged for the consecration of one of its senior officials, Ma Yinling, as the bishop of Kunming in southwestern China, despite objections from the Vatican over whether he had the spiritual preparation for such a post. But the biggest blow seems to have been the consecration of Liu Xinhong on Wednesday morning as bishop of Wuhu in Anhui province in eastern China, again after the Vatican had objected to whether Mr. Liu was a suitable choice.