By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY – In an unusually strongly worded statement, the Vatican said the recent election of new Church leaders by government-controlled Catholic groups in China and the illicit ordination of a Chinese bishop have “unilaterally damaged” hopes of improved relations with China.
While expressing its wish to engage in honest dialogue with Chinese authorities, the Vatican said the events were “unacceptable and hostile” and had caused “a grave loss of the trust that is necessary for overcoming the difficulties and building a correct relationship with the Church for the sake of the common good.”
A written communique issued by the Vatican press office on 17 December criticised the Chinese-government-controlled National Congress of Catholic Representatives that was held in Beijing from 7-9 December.
The assembly, in which many bishops, priests, religious and laypeople were forced to take part against their will, came less than three weeks after the ordination of Fa Joseph Guo Jincai as Bishop of Chengde; his was the first ordination of a Bishop without papal approval in four years.
The Vatican condemned the methods of convoking the assembly, saying it reflected “a repressive attitude with regard to the exercise of religious liberty, which it was hoped had been consigned to the past in present-day China.”
Forcing people to attend the congress represented a “grave violation” of people’s human rights, particularly their freedom of conscience and religion, said the Vatican.
It said China’s “persistent desire” to control their citizens’ innermost lives, specifically matters of conscience, and to interfere with the inner workings of the Church “does no credit to China.”
“On the contrary, it seems to be a sign of fear and weakness rather than of strength; of intransigent intolerance rather than openness to freedom,” respect for human dignity and a proper distinction between the civil and religious realms, it said.
The Vatican had repeatedly warned Bishops and the faithful to not take part in the national congress. It praised those who bore witness to their faith “with courage” and invited others to pray, do penance “and, through their works, to reaffirm their own will to follow Christ” in full communion with the universal Church.
The Vatican said it realised many Catholics, including Bishops and priests, were forced to participate and asked the faithful “remain steadfast and patient in the faith” and to remember that many of their pastors are under government pressure.
It asked the faithful to pray for their priests and “to continue courageously supporting them in the face of the unjust impositions that they encounter in the exercise of their ministry.”
The Congress of Catholic Representatives elected new leaders for the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the two groups responsible for the public life of the Church in the Communist country.
The new president of the Bishops’ conference is Bishop Joseph Ma Yinglin of Kunming, who was ordained without papal approval in 2006.
However, the new president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association is Bishop Yohan Fang Xinyao of Linyi, who was ordained in 1997 and is in communion with the Pope.
The Vatican said it was “deeply deplorable that an illegitimate Bishop has been appointed” president of the Bishops’ conference, which includes Bishops who are still illegitimate and its statutes are incompatible with Catholic doctrine, it said.
It “cannot be recognised as an episcopal conference by the Apostolic See; the ‘clandestine’ bishops, those not recognised by the government but in communion with the Pope, are not part of it,” said the Vatican.
The Vatican said it was “lamentable also that a legitimate Bishop has been appointed president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.”
Concerning “the so-called episcopal conference” and the patriotic association, the statement said Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 Letter to the Church in China still applies to the two entities.
The letter said since the statutes of the two bodies promote “the principles of independence and autonomy, self-management and democratic administration of the Church,” they are not in line with Church doctrine.
However, in his letter, the Pope also recognised the difficult situation of Bishops and priests under pressure from the government and said the Holy See “leaves the decision to the individual Bishop,” having consulted his priests, “to weigh … and to evaluate the possible consequences” of dealing with government pressures in each given situation.
The Vatican communique said it was obvious that China, “a great and noble nation,” still found it “hard to implement the demands of genuine religious freedom.”
The national congress has not only made reconciliation between the so-called “clandestine” and “official” communities more difficult, it has inflicted “a deep wound” on the Church in China and the universal Church, it said.