Bishops from mainland China were not invited to the Triennial Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to be held in Vatican City this October.Observers believe this is an indication that the Vatican and the Chinese government have not yet reached a consensus over the appointment of bishops in China.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Pope Benedict XVI has appointed 32 bishops from around the world to attend the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, including bishops from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
No bishops from mainland China were invited.
According to observers at the Vatican, the Vatican had previously made it clear to Beijing that it would not invite any bishop that had been approved only by the Chinese government and not by the Pope.
Hence, no bishop from China being invited indicates that none of the names on the list submitted by Beijing were acceptable to the Vatican.
Dr. Wang Juntao, a political scientist, now living in the United States, agrees with this analysis. He believes that the Vatican did not invite bishops from China because it wanted to show its displeasure with China’s current policy of selecting and approving bishops without Vatican approval.
Three years ago the Vatican had invited four bishops from mainland China to attend the synod. But because the bishops were not invited through official Chinese government channels, in the end, the four bishops were refused permission to attend.
Vatican City is the only country in Europe that has not established official diplomatic relations with China. Wang believes that although China has had frequent contact with the Vatican in recent years, the two sides remain divided on how to appoint bishops.
“Mainland China talks about this issue under the framework of national sovereignty,” said Wang. “But the Vatican insists that the bishops should be appointed only by the Pope. China insists that [China’s] Three-Self Patriotic Churches should have full control. To date, neither side appears willing to compromise on this issue.”
Wang added, “I think the key obstacle is that China does not want to give up its control over to the Catholic Church.”
Social scientist Liu Xiaozhu believes that the difference between China and the Vatican is essentially the issue of freedom of religion.
“In the past, there was the Taiwan issue”, said Liu. “In the end the Vatican basically indicated that they would make a concession. Then last year, high-level officials in the Chinese central government suddenly changed their minds. Because the political situation inside China had been unstable and because they had been focused on the upcoming Olympics, the Vatican was put on hold. The problem is that the Chinese government does have a consistent policy regarding the Catholic Church, which is that they only recognize the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee when it comes to the appointment of bishops, not the Vatican. The Chinese government still insists on using atheistic political thought to manage religions. This is impossible.”
Several media reports have noted that whether the Vatican and the Chinese government authorities in Beijing can eventually reach an agreement before the synod and decide upon a list of bishops from China to attend, remains to be seen.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: ET)