It could have been a cause for celebration for the Vatican and the Chinese state. The ordination of Thaddeus Ma Daqin (pictured) as an auxiliary bishop in Shanghai was approved by both Rome and the Beijing government-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA), and it might reasonably have been assumed that Ma would be a unifying figure, reports The Tablet.
But at his ordination on July 7, Bishop Ma dramatically declared that he was resigning from the CPA. “As I now serve as a bishop, I should focus on pastoral work and evangelisation,” he said. “It is inconvenient for me to take on certain responsibilities. Therefore, from this day of consecration, it will no longer be convenient to be a member of the Patriotic Association.”
The reaction of the Chinese Government was swift. Ma was taken away by “unidentified” persons and was said to be staying at a seminary “for a retreat”.
At around the same time, the Vatican issued a communiqué declaring illicit the episocopal ordination of a CPA cleric. Fr Joseph Yue Fusheng became Bishop of Harbin in north-east China on July 6 despite repeated requests by the Vatican to him “not to accept episcopal ordination without the pontifical mandate”.
The acts of these two bishops – one obedient to the CPA, the other determined to defy it – have brought Sino-Vatican relations to a new low. Bishop Ma was committing an offence against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by leaving the state-controlled CPA, even though article 2 of the association’s constitution states that membership is on a voluntary basis.
But he was being faithful to Pope Benedict XVI’s advice in his 2007 pastoral letter to Chinese Catholics that CPA membership was “incompatible” with Catholic faith. There has been international concern about Ma’s fate.
On July 10, Shanghai Diocese posted a notice on its website rejecting rumours that he was under house arrest.
The notice, however, did not refer to Ma as a bishop, and the following day the CPA announced that he was under investigation for seriously violating regulations.
There are around 12 million Catholics in China, about half of them members of open communities which have registered at the CPA, with bishops recognised by Beijing. The rest are in underground communities.
In many cases, these coexist harmoniously with the CPA, especially where bishops are approved both by the state authorities and by Rome.
Catholicism is growing steadily in China; there were some 22,000 baptisms last Easter alone.