Catholic leaders reject Duterte’s call to revive death penalty in Philippines

Shanghai, China, Aug 10, 2017 / 05:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A cardinal who helped change Catholic missionary work in China is now a possible candidate for beatification. 

Cardinal Celso Costantini became the first apostolic delegate to China in 19… […]

Beijing, China, Feb 6, 2018 / 02:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Chinese newspaper with close ties to the nation’s communist party has added its voice to the discussion of a possible agreement with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops.

The Global Times, a Chinese daily, published a Feb. 5 editorial advocating a possible Chinese agreement with the Vatican, and considering the possible implications for Taiwan of a Vatican agreement with the People’s Republic of China.

Published under the auspices of The People’s Daily, flagship of the largest newspaper group in China and an official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, the Global Times focuses on international issues, reporting from a communist perspective.

The editorial also said any agreement between the Vatican and Beijing would deal “a heavy blow” to the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan, since the Vatican is the nation’s “only ally” in Europe.

The Vatican is currently the only European state that maintains relations with Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China.

Mainland China broke ties with the Vatican in 1951 after communists overthrew the country’s nationalist government.

In 1957, the People’s Republic of China established the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association to oversee Catholics in the country. Because the CPCA has appointed bishops independently of the pope, in collaboration with the Chinese government, relations with the Catholic Church have been difficult, with many churches closed and priests imprisoned. Chinese Catholics are only officially allowed to practice their faith in state-sanctioned churches.

Since the 1980s the Vatican and Beijing have loosely cooperated in episcopal appointments, however, the government has also named bishops without Vatican approval.

The result has led to a complicated and tense relationship between the patriotic association and the “underground Church,” which includes priests and bishops who are not recognized by the government.

Recently, reports have suggested that a Vatican-Beijing agreement on the appointment of bishops is “imminent” and could be announced in the next few months.

Some have voiced concern that should the Vatican establish official ties with Beijing, they would break relations with Taiwan, leaving them without a European ally. The Holy See is currently one of just 20 countries with full diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

CNA contacted the Taiwanese embassy to the Holy See for comment on the possible deal, however, they were not available for comment.

In their editorial, the Global Times said the question regarding Taiwan “isn’t Beijing’s top concern” when dealing with the Vatican, since the mainland “has many tools to pressure Taiwan.”

However, the communist newspaper said a deal between China and the Vatican would be “tremendously beneficial to Catholics.”

“As a result of changes in secular political patterns, disputes are inevitable in the history of religion, and may evolve into religious splits in many circumstances,” the paper said, noting that the Holy See was able to reach a consensus with Vietnam on bishop appointments, so an agreement with China on the issue “would reflect Catholics’ ability to adapt to changes.”

The paper said Beijing has been “patient” in negotiations with the Vatican and has “stuck to principle” while also managing differences. And despite what the paper called a “difficult process,” it said most non-Catholics in China “have never been strongly against the Vatican. The Chinese public generally respects each Pope.”

“Beijing and the Vatican will establish diplomatic relations sooner or later. We believe Beijing’s diplomats can manage the negotiations well, taking account of the national interest and the religious beliefs of Catholics.”

Pope Francis, the paper said, has a positive image with the Chinese public, and “it is expected he will push China-Vatican ties forward and solve related problems with his wisdom.”

In a separate Feb. 6 analysis , The Global Times cited the possibility that the Vatican and China could use the Vatican’s agreement with Vietnam on bishop appointments as an example for how to shape their own deal.

Implemented by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, now Secretary of State, in 1996, the Vietnam model requires bishop candidates to be approved by the Vatican and Vietnam, with the Holy See proposing three bishops to the Hanoi government, and Hanoi making the final choice.

This approach has long been considered a model for a Vatican-Beijing deal, and as the possibility of an agreement takes clearer shape, the theory seems more likely.

According to the Global Times, Yan Kejia, director of the Institute of Religious Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said it’s too early to tell what exactly the deal between China and the Vatican will look like, but a “special mechanism” ought to be put into place to help avoid confusion and the possible breach of the agreement in the future.

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CNA Staff, Dec 15, 2020 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- The Supreme Court of India agreed Monday to consider a petition that the requirement of annual confession in the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church violates its members’ privacy rights.

Three members of the Church, which is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, have petitioned the court after some of the Church’s priests allegedly used information learned in the confessional for blackmailing and both sexual and monetary exploitation.

India’s Supreme Court agreed to hear the case Dec. 14.

The petitioners called the Church’s requirement of confession a “serious intrusion into the privacy of a person.”

The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church codified its constitution in 1934. That constitution requires that all Church members over 21 years go to Confession annually. It also requires that a confession register be kept in each parish.

The petitioners argue that the requirement of confession violates the protection of life and personal liberty and freedom of conscience and free profession found in articles 21 and 25 of the Constitution of India.

They also took issue with the Church’s ability to remove members from its registers for failure to support the Church financially.
Fr. Johns Abraham Konatt, a spokesman for the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, said that “confession is one of the seven sacraments of the Church.

He told UCA News, “There might be a few instances of misuse of confession, but that does not mean that the sacrament should be done away with.”

The petition comes amid reports of some priests using the confessional to exploit women for sexual purposes, and men for monetary purposes.

In mid-2018, five priests of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church were accused of using confession to blackmail and sexually abuse a 34 year-old married woman. They have since been suspended.

At the time, a proposal to abolish confessions in all Churches in the nation was put forth by India’s National Commission for Women, a government advisory agency.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay said at the time that he was “shocked” by the proposed ban.

“(The ban) betrays a total lack of understanding of the nature, meaning, sanctity and importance of this Sacrament for our people; and also an ignorance of the strict laws of the Church to prevent any abuse,” he said. Such a ban would be a violation of the freedom of religion guaranteed by the country’s constitution, Gracias said.

“Millions of people from all over the world, over the centuries, have testified to the spiritual benefit of this Sacrament and to the grace, pardon and peace they have experienced as a result of receiving this Sacrament,” he added. “I am confident the Government will totally ignore this absurd demand from the Commission.”

According to local media, the National Commission for Minorities vice-chairman George Kurian also criticised the proposal during a TV discussion, calling it unconstitutional and saying that it unnecessarily provokes division and misunderstanding among minority communities.

The Oriental Orthodox Churches rejected the 451 Council of Chalcedon, and its followers were historically considered monophysites, those who believe Christ has only one nature, by Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox.

The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church is based in the Indian state of Kerala, where most of its dioceses are located.

The government of India is officially secular, while nearly 80 percent of the population identifies as Hindu. About 2.3 percent of India’s population is as Christian.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom earlier this year recommended that India be designated by the State Department as a “country of particular concern” — a designation reserved for the worst violators of religious freedom or the countries where the worst abuses are taking place and the governments do not stop them. USCIRF had not recommended India for the CPC list since 2004.

Christians have been subject to increasing attacks by mobs in India, with national and state governments failing to protect them and administer justice to perpetrators. A 2020 Open Doors report noted at least 447 verified incidents of violence and hate crimes committed against Christians in India in a year, many of them by radical Hindus.

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