It was said that the ordination ceremony of Father Ding Lingbin in
Changzhi Diocese would take place on November 10, during the month of
the Souls in Purgatory.
In the past, there were cases in which the
ordination date was set and announced; however, as time approached, the
date was changed or even cancelled quietly.
Often those incidents happened because of the problems coming from
personnel assignment, the religious and faithful wanting to boycott
since the government tries to “mix with the sand” (for example, having
an illicit bishop concelebrate the ordination mass), the bishop-selected
suddenly refusing to be ordained, or disapproving of the letter of
appointment given by patriotic bishop conference, which would be
announced openly during the ordination ceremony. This is what happened
on the inauguration of Bishop Zhu Weifang in Wenzhou.
Father Sun Zhenhua
snatched the letter of appointment from the delegates of Bishops
Conference of Catholic Church in China and Chinese Catholic Patriotic
Association since the letter of appointment should have been read by a
delegate from the Holy See.
Therefore, there are still many variables before Fr. Ding Lingbin can
be ordained as a bishop.
As of now, lots of Chinese news appears to be
positive in order to confuse the Vatican vision, such as claiming to
legalize illegal Bishops, transfer the right of bishop appointment to
Beijing, and that an agreement will be reached and signed by both China
and the Vatican. This increases pressure for the Vatican in the process
of negotiations between China and the Vatican.
Why say this? Obviously, both Fr. Ding of Changzhi Diocese and Fr.
Tang of Chengdu have received the letter of appointment from the
Vatican. Hence, even though the Sino-Vatican agreement has not been
signed yet and those illicit bishops won't become legal before
ordination day of November 10, at worst, this will just result in being
forced to read the false letter of appointment, “mixing the sand”,
similar to what happened in the past.
According to the previous experiences on bishop ordination, the
letter of appointment from Vatican was read to clergy in the diocese
privately. In addition, no matter what, the clergy of each diocese will
use positive or negative attitudes to boycott the government’s “mixing
the sand” and reading the false letter of appointment. This is the way
to insist on sticking to faith principles and expressing of loyalty. By
doing this, it preserves the effectiveness of the sacrament and displays
the sacredness and inviolability of the ordination ceremonies.
According to the canon law of the Catholic Church, it is rightful for
the pope to appoint the bishop; this is not disputable. Therefore, both
Fr. Ding Lingbin and Fr. Tang Yunge, who have received the approvals
and appointments from the pope through private channels, are eligible
bishop-elects.
As matter of fact, the authorities are aware of this and turn a blind
eye to it since they also know that very few are willing to be
illegally ordained and willing to be excommunicated.
It has been announced that Fr. Ding Lingbin will be ordained as a
bishop (in fact, it should have been done a long time ago since this
ordination does not violate the law). (It is said that the diocese of
Chengdu is also actively preparing for the work of the ordination).
China once again uses this situation to force Vatican to move forward on
the negotiations. But as I have discussed before, they can't do
anything but let the illegal bishops join to "mix the sand" and read the
false the letter of appointment.
Honestly speaking, after all these years of fighting, bishops, along
with priests and faithful in Chinese Church, will try by every means to
make the ceremony of consecration legitimate and sacred. After Pope
Francis stated that slow work yields fine product and haste does not
bring success for Sino-Vatican negotiations, it might be assumed that
the we will not see the Holy Father, who in the past has expressed the
best wishes and has spoken good words to Chinese Government, show a
clear and positive attitude towards the negotiations.
Only the Vatican
Insider aggressively conveys their message about how the Chinese Church
is, although in a difficult situation, willing to sacrifice and
compromise in order to reach an agreement with the Vatican (such as the
interview with the underground bishop, the Chinese bishop's database,
the list of the pope's enemies). Their message seems true, but that is
not certain.
In the end though, episcopal nominations still fall under papal
authority. Thus, amid the news strongly propagated by Chinese news media
that "China and the Vatican have reached an agreement on the
appointment of bishops," Pope Francis has remained lucid. Even though he
has expressed a desire to do a great thing for "the Church in China"
before the closing of the Jubilee Year, I do not believe that this great
thing is to give Beijing the right to appoint bishops!
Some have said that the negotiations between China and the Vatican
have come at the expense of the underground Church. In fact, if the pope
grants Beijing the right to appoint bishops, then the entire Church in
China will be sacrificed. "For the good of the Church in China" the
Church in China will be sacrificed, handing its sacred authority over to
an atheistic government. I don’t think the Vatican can take such a step
in such a flippant manner!
Some media are saying that China and the Vatican have already signed
the agreement and that the pope will retain the right to veto
(episcopal) candidates. Have they signed the agreement or not? We’ll
just have to wait and see if there is any change to Mgr Ding Lingbin’s
ordination scheduled for this month. Let's see if it changes, if the
ordination takes place smoothly, if there are no cover-ups (mixing
legitimate and illegitimate bishops). Let us see if during the reading
of the pseudo-appointment, someone will publicly disrupt it, if only by
whistling (his disapproval).
China always likes to weigh things its way. Before and after the
various meetings of the (Sino-Vatican) working group, media tend to
plunge into wild speculations driving the Church in China mad
(schizophrenia). In fact, some throw insults; others express
disappointment; some applaud; others plot.
But the main thing they want
to convey is always the same: Chinese Catholics are ready to welcome
with joy the signing of the ‘Agreement between China and the Vatican’,
urging the pope to give "the authority to appoint bishops" (to Beijing),
paying homage to the opening of the ninth Assembly of Chinese Catholic
representatives!
Still, until the agreement between China and the Vatican is not made
public, until Pope Francis does not explicitly speak about it, and
despite the use of (government) media, our answer is always with Card.
Zen’s words, namely, I don’t like secret talks between China and the
Vatican.
There is not much time to wait. On November 10, the truth will come out on its own . . .