TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny’s recent censure of the Catholic Church has been
taken on board by China in its ongoing row with the Vatican.
Mr
Kenny has said the Cloyne report on clerical child sex abuse highlighted
dysfunction and elitism in Rome.
While there has been no official
comment from Beijing about his remarks, an editorial in the
English-language
Global Times said Mr Kenny’s comments proved China was right to question the Holy See’s authority in appointing priests.
The
Global Times is a subsidiary of the Communist Party’s official organ,
The People’s Daily .
The editorial, headlined
“Catholicism should adapt to local conditions”, said the church’s power
was vastly disproportionate to the diminutive size of the Vatican.
“It
[the Vatican] names cardinals in other countries, its senior priests
abroad have diplomatic protection and, we have it from the Irish PM that
they can interfere in the affairs of sovereign states,” it said.
“It’s
the West’s historical baggage and frankly its problem. But China is very
much within its rights to question the power of the Vatican state to
have sole authority in naming priests in faraway lands.”
The
communists expelled foreign clergy in the 1950s and severed ties with
the Holy See.
China’s officially atheist government requires Christians
of all denominations to worship in state-registered churches.
Catholics
are required to join the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic
Association.
It was established eight years after the 1949 revolution,
has five million members and repeatedly angers Rome by naming bishops
without the Vatican’s approval.
The Holy See estimates that about eight million Chinese Catholics worship secretly in churches not recognised by the government.
Much
to Beijing’s irritation, the Vatican is one of a handful of states that
extends diplomatic recognition to the self-ruled island of Taiwan.
The
Holy See has hinted that it could switch diplomatic recognition to
Beijing if China stops appointing senior clergy against the Vatican’s
wishes.
In recent years, under Pope Benedict XVI, relations have
improved.
Disputes over appointments in China’s official church have
been avoided by quietly conferring on candidates, which means most
state-approved bishops have a Vatican blessing.
“China is
questioning the principle of letting a foreign state dictate to another
what happens on its own territory . . . Why can’t the Chinese pick their
own bishops, ideally without the interference of any state, whether
local or foreign?” the editorial continued.
“The huge support that the
Irish PM received after his tirade has demonstrated how the Irish people
have . . . put their allegiance to their government above that to the
Vatican, without being any less Catholic. Institutions evolve and so
should the Church.”