Vatican agrees ordinations with China

Arrangement hailed a ‘breakthrough’ on road to normal relations but Pope laments absence of bishops from Rome Synod
THE ORDINATIONS of Chinese bishops with the explicit approval of both the Vatican and Beijing have been hailed as a landmark “breakthrough” in relations between the two parties.
Although officially China and the Vatican have no diplomatic ties, the recent ordinations of at least two Chinese bishops represent signs that things “are moving”, said Hong Kong Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun.
Bishop Paul He Zeqing was consecrated auxiliary bishop of Wanxian last week.
According to AsiaNews, an Italian missionary news agency, Bishop He was the third bishop to have been consecrated with Vatican approval into the official, or government-supported, Church in China in a public ceremony. The Wanxian bishop told people attending the ceremony that the ordination was taking place with the approval of the Vatican, the Rome-based news agency said.
Bishop Zen, who was in Rome attending the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, said that the last two ordinations have been unique in that the government did not pressure the Church leaders to keep the Vatican’s approval a secret, “so I think this is a breakthrough.” “As far as I know, first came the appointment by the Pope, and then the local bishop tried to help this candidate be elected by the clergy, by the people, and then the government has no choice but to recognise, to accept, to approve that bishop,” he said.
“I hope the government draws conclusions from the facts. It’s futile to be rigid on their position, because they must see they’re losing control,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI lamented the absence of four mainland Chinese bishops he had invited to attend the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist.
In an homily at a Mass in St Peter’s Square on Sunday, marking the end of the Synod, the Pope noted that Synod participants felt the absence of the Chinese bishops “with deep sadness”.
Just before the opening of the synod, the invited Chinese bishops told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, that the Chinese government did not issue them passports, so they could not travel.
Four chairs remained empty in the Synod hall for the entire Synod to mark their absence.
In his homily, the Pope said he wished to “assure the Chinese bishops that we are close to them in prayer, and to their priests and faithful”.
The Synod delegates also expressed their solidarity with the Catholic communities in China in a letter they sent to the four bishops on Saturday.
“In the Lord Jesus, we hope that all the ecclesial communities in China may flourish in their listening to the word, in celebrating the paschal mystery and in the generous service to the brothers,” it said. The letter said the bishops “wish to soon find paths to make full communion more visible” between the two churches in China.
Since the 1950s China has had a government-approved Catholic Church that elects its own bishops with government approval and initially was forced to reject ties to the Vatican. An underground Church has always main tained loyalty to the Vatican. Bishop Zen has said that up to 85 per cent of the government-approved bishops have reconciled with the Vatican and that, in many regions of China, Catholics from the two churches intermingle at the parish level.
China has said that before it would normalise diplomatic relations the Vatican must break its ties to Taiwan and not interfere in the naming of bishops. For some time the Vatican has made it clear that it would be willing to move its embassy from Taiwan to Beijing if diplomatic relations were established.
In an interview with Vatican Radio Bishop Zen said that people who belong to the two churches “have the same beliefs, and they are all Catholics” . “There is nothing confrontational between the two churches,” he added.
“The difference is that those who are underground refuse to collaborate with the government because they say we cannot accept to be separate from the Holy See. And those in the official Church believe that there could be a compromise,” he said.
“In general they coexist peacefully, because the division is not created by the Catholics, it’s created by the government. They are both victims of the government,” he told Vatican Radio.
He said the government “must know that to be Catholic is to be united with the Holy See, so they must accept that”. He said it is not a political alliance; “it’s simply religious business”.