THE VATICAN must “face the facts” about religious freedom in China,
the foreign ministry said in the first official reaction to the pope’s
Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi message condemning the persecution of Chinese
Catholics.
Pope Benedict denounced limits on freedom of worship in China and encouraged Catholics here to persevere.
“We
hope the Vatican can face the facts of China’s religious freedom and
the development of Catholicism in China and take concrete actions to
promote positive conditions for China-Vatican relations,” foreign
ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news conference.
An editorial
in the English-language edition of the Global Times, run by Communist
Party organ the People’s Daily, said the pope had acted “more like a
western politician than a religious leader”, but this was the first
official commentary from Beijing.
Broadly speaking, relations
between Beijing and the Holy See have been poor since the communists
kicked foreign clergy out in the 1950s and severed ties with the
Vatican.
China’s officially atheist government requires that
Christians worship in state-registered churches, and China’s eight to 12
million Catholics are divided into official and unofficial camps.
Catholics
are required to join the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic
Association, set up eight years after the 1949 revolution, which has
five million members and which repeatedly angers Rome by naming bishops
without the Vatican’s approval.
On the other hand there is an
underground church wary of government ties.
The Vatican estimates about
eight million Chinese Catholics worship secretly in underground churches
not recognised by the government.
In recent years, under Pope
Benedict, relations have improved and disputes over appointments in
China’s official church have been avoided by quietly conferring on
candidates, which means that most state-approved bishops have a Vatican
blessing.
The policy of appointing religious leaders without
consulting with the titular heads of the religion in question is
something that the Chinese have also done with the Tibetan Buddhists.
The
current Panchen Lama, second in command in the Tibetan Buddhist
hierarchy, was appointed by the Chinese government after the Panchen
Lama named by the Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, was
kidnapped.
Negotiations are ongoing to improve the status of the
Catholic Church in China, probably by no longer recognising Taiwan
diplomatically in favour of Beijing.
The Vatican is one of the few
countries in the world that gives diplomatic recognition to Taiwan,
which China considers a renegade province.
This is a key irritant to
relations between the Holy See and Beijing.
While relations tend to simmer, they do flare up every so often.
A
schism would be hugely difficult for Chinese Catholics, as they would
be forced to either ally themselves with the Vatican, and choose
underground worship, or tie themselves to the patriotic association,
which could involve excommunication.
SIC: IT/IE