...that the Church seems to be on the brink of doing a deal in which the Chinese government will have a major say in the appointment of bishops. This is a very, very bad plan. Christ appointed Peter and the Twelve. He didn't urge them to make arrangements with the Roman bureaucracy to establish their successors.
Pope St John Paul got it right when dealing with governments. You are polite and courteous and have useful dealings, you emphasise that government is service and that God seeks to sanctify all such work - but you hold fast to the complete truth and freedom of the Church. No deals, no power-sharing, no special arrangements, no wannabe-throne-and-altar schemes. Peter is the rock. Not Peter-n-the-government-of-this-bit-of-the-world. The Church must be free to be what she is, to fulfil the glory of what Christ called her to be and to do on earth until he returns in glory.
Cardinal Zen has heroically been pleading with Pope Francis to abandon the scheming. As has happened too often in the life of the Church, the heroic local bishop is ignored in the face of what seems expedient...and then, when t the wider perspective is seen, and the history is written, people sigh...
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IN the 17th century, it was decided that, Catholic or Protestant, the religion of the prince would be the religion of the people the governed. That did end the 30 years' war. However the arrangement couldn't survive the machine age.
I'm not too critical of the Holy Father. It's easy enough, from the safety of Western Europe, to advocate that the Chinese ordinary Catholic join the underground church, which exposes him and his family to risk of persecution, rather than the state-approved church, which only differs from the mainstream Church on matters of politics of scant practical relevance to the average Chinese Catholic's daily life. But I tend to agree with you, the arrangements are at risk of seeming scandalous when Chinese Communism finally folds.
The church can be lily-livered on persecution. Look at the problems the clandestinely consecrated Czech bishops encountered.
I have many thoughts on this, but it's not my blog, so I'll just say that it seems to me that when you give in to tyrants, it's never enough, they always demand more.
Well said Joanna! What a tragic unholy mess. Messrs Becket and More must be looking down in despair – and they were up against so-called Christian leaders. No lessons from history then. Has the Vatican stopped to think for a minute with whom they are dealing here? Who has a big stake in Communism and all Christian-bashing totalitarian states? Yep. That’s right – just as Sister taught us. And now the allies of our overheated adversary will be dictating who gets to be Bishop (oh, sorry, with “input” from the Vatican.) And I note that a Vatican spokesman chastised the noble Cardinal Zen and his supporters for sowing confusion and controversy. A discourse between kitchen containers comes to mind.
It's just a continuation of Cardinal Casaroli's Ostpolitik. I had a Hungarian girlfriend in the 1980s, and her family had escaped from Hungary. She had such a bitter hatred of Casaroli that it shocked even me, a fervent foe of compromise with the Soviets. This shabby arrangement with Red China will no doubt inspire the same kind of ill will from loyal Catholics. We need more Mindszentys.
On the surface, an accord between the Holy See and the PRC conflicts with the spirit and letter of 'Christus Dominus', the Vatican II decree concerning the pastoral office of bishops in the Church. The bishops of the Patriotic Association are members of the PRC parliament. Those bishops, while technically part of an illicit Chinese bishops' conference, are ultimately answerable to the civil authorities via the PRC Religious Affairs Bureau.
Maybe this anticipated agreement will open the door for English bishops to sit in the House of Lords! What does an accord with the PRC suggest about the authority of the decrees of Vatican II ?
The relevant passages from 'Christus Dominus':
20. Since the apostolic office of bishops was instituted by Christ the Lord and pursues a spiritual and supernatural purpose, this sacred ecumenical synod declares that the right of nominating and appointing bishops belongs properly, peculiarly, and per se exclusively to the competent ecclesiastical authority.
Therefore, for the purpose of duly protecting the freedom of the Church and of promoting more conveniently and efficiently the welfare of the faithful, this holy council desires that in future no more rights or privileges of election, nomination, presentation, or designation for the office of bishop be granted to civil authorities. The civil authorities, on the other hand, whose favorable attitude toward the Church the sacred synod gratefully acknowledges and highly appreciates, are most kindly requested voluntarily to renounce the above-mentioned rights and privileges which they presently enjoy by reason of a treaty or custom, after discussing the matter with the Apostolic See.
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