Hong Kong, China, Feb 6, 2018 / 04:40 pm (CNA).- A possible Vatican agreement with the Chinese government has prompted feelings of unease and fears of betrayal, Cardinal Joseph Zen has warned in a strong statement continuing his criticism of negotiatio… […]
Vatican City, Feb 6, 2018 / 03:01 pm (CNA).- In the Vatican, there is a saying about China: “China has the sharp end of the stick. Any time the Holy See extends the hand to hold it, it gets the sharp end of the stick, and its hand bleeds.&r… […]
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.
Vatican City, Feb 6, 2018 / 12:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences has said that China is exercising global moral leadership in the principles of Catholic social teaching and defense of human dignity.
Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, an Argentinian, is chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. In an interview with Vatican Insider, he recently said that “at this moment, those who best realize the social doctrine of the Church are the Chinese.”
Sorondo told Vatican Insider that he had recently visited China, where he says he found that “they [the Chinese] seek the common good, subordinate things to the general good.”
“I found an extraordinary China; what people do not know is that the central Chinese principle is ‘work, work, work.’ …As Paul said: ‘he who does not work, who does not eat.’ You do not have shantytowns, you do not have drugs, young people do not have drugs. There is a positive national consciousness, they want to show that they have changed, they already accept private property,” he said of his trip.
The bishop said that the People’s Republic of China has “defended the dignity of the human person,” and, in the area of climate change, is “assuming a moral leadership that others have abandoned.”
Sorondo criticized the United States, where, he said, the economy dominates politics. “How is it possible that oil multinationals manage Trump,” he asked.
“Liberal thought has liquidated the concept of the common good, they do not even want to take it into account, it affirms that it is an empty idea, without any interest.” On the other hand, he said, the Chinese propose work and the common good.
The bishop said that “China is evolving very well,” adding that “you can not think that the China of today is the China [during the pontificate of] John Paul II or the Russia of the Cold War.”
In October 2017, the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China criticized the country’s human rights practices.
The commission condemned “the Chinese government and Communist Party’s continued efforts to silence dissent, criminalize activities of human rights lawyers, control civil society, suppress religious activity, and restrict the operations of foreign media outlets, businesses, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) over the past 12 months”
“Nothing good happens in the dark,” Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) said in an October statement on China. “That is why the Administration should shine a light on the Chinese government’s failures to abide by universal standards, shine a light on the cases of tortured and abused political prisoners, shine a light on China’s unfair trade practices and still coercive population control policies.”
Manila, Philippines, Jan 31, 2018 / 12:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Philippines’ House of Representatives passed a bill that would legally recognize church-decreed declarations of nullity, or annulments.
The legislation was approved on Jan. 29. Out of 293 representatives 203 voted in favor of the bill. Representative Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt-Romualdez the bill’s author and principal sponsor.
The law would “remove the burden of undergoing the civil annulment process,” and couples “will have the benefit of a more efficient and affordable procedure,” she told UCA News.
Filipino Muslims may divorce under the Code of Muslim Personal Law. Divorces are not an option for non-Muslims in The Philippines, though civil annulments are available through a costly judicial processes.
The proposed law says that “whenever a marriage, duly and legally solemnized by a priest, minister, rabbi or presiding elder of any church or religious sect in The Philippines is subsequently annulled in accordance with the canons or precepts of the church or religious sect, the said annulment shall have the same effect as a decree of annulment issued by a competent court.”
An ecclesiastical decree of nullity would need to be registered with the Filipino government before a citizen was eligible to be remarried.
Catholic ecclesiastical tribunals consider the validity of marriages according to several criteria: whether a marriage was celebrated according to ceremonial requirements, whether parties to the marriage had the psychological capacity to make an act of consent, and whether the parties withheld some essential good or property of marriage from their consent, among others. A marriage can not be judged invalid solely because of acts of infidelity, the use of contraception, or because of a premarital pregnancy.
Romualdez said she was influenced by Pope Francis to provide Catholics a simpler and more efficient means to resolve “irreparable marriages.”
“While he reaffirmed traditional teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, he streamlined annulment procedures which many considered cumbersome, lengthy, outdated and expensive to make it affordable and accessible to Catholics.”
Rep. Romualdez and House Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia sponsored the bill. The law was also endorsed by House Committee on Population and Family Relations and co-authored by the committee’s head Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones. The bill will now be considered by the Philippine Senate.
Romualdez expressed gratitude for the bill’s passage, which she said provided a more efficient annulment process for Filipinos, while respecting the sanctity of marriage.
“From the bottom of my heart, I thank my colleagues for the swift passage of the bill without jeopardizing the indissolubility of marriage.”
Toowoomba, Australia, Jan 30, 2018 / 04:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An anti-foreign influence bill being considered by the Australian government could end up silencing the Catholic Church in the country, a local bishop warned this week.
“The Church … […]
Kolkata, India, Jan 26, 2018 / 01:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Raheema was just 15 years old when she left her home in the Rakhine state in Burma.
“There was no food at home and my mother thought I would be better off if I joined my father,” wh… […]
Changwon, South Korea, Jan 26, 2018 / 12:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A fire at a hospital in South Korea killed at least 37 people on Friday, and injured more than 70. Pope Francis has conveyed his sympathy and solidarity to those affected by the tragedy.
“Deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and of injuries caused by the outbreak of the fire in Sejong Hospital, Miryang, His Holiness Pope Francis expresses heartfelt solidarity with all those affected by this tragedy,” read a Jan. 26 message from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State.
“He prays especially for the repose of the deceased and for the healing of those injured. The Holy Father offers encouragement to the civil authorities and emergency personnel as they assist the victims of this disaster, and upon all he willingly invokes the divine blessings of strength and consolation.”
The fire began around 7:30 am at Sejong Hospital in Miryang, in South Gyeongsang Province. The BBC reports that the fire is South Korea’s deadliest in nearly 10 years. Sejong Hospital specializes in attending to the elderly, and it has an adjacent nursing home.
The hospital, which was opened in 2008, does not have fire sprinklers, which are not required under South Korean law. A new law requires nursing homes to have fire sprinklers beginning June 30, and fire sprinklers were being installed in the nursing home associated with the hospital.
Beijing, China, Jan 23, 2018 / 03:48 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s efforts to resolve the split between underground Chinese bishops and the government-recognized Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association face another challenge, as an aging bishop faithful to Rome has reportedly declined a Vatican request to retire, to be replaced by a bishop favored by the Chinese government.
The Church in China is split between an underground Catholic Church and the officially recognized Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Every bishop recognized by Beijing must be a member of the association.
The Holy See’s negotiations with the Chinese government could eventually lead to Vatican recognition of seven illicitly ordained bishops aligned with Beijing. The Holy See could be pursuing China’s official recognition of 20 bishop candidates appointed by the Holy See, some of whom have already been secretly ordained, in addition to state recognition of up to 40 bishops in the underground Catholic community.
Many underground bishops, priests and lay faithful have faced persecution and harassment.
In December 2016, the Holy See asked 88-year-old Bishop Peter Zhuang Jianjian of Shantou in southern Guangdong province to retire so that an illicitly ordained excommunicated bishop could take his place and be recognized by the Vatican, Asia News reports.
However, the Vatican-recognized bishop reportedly refused the delegation’s request that he retire.
The Holy See had previously asked Bishop Zhuang to resign in an Oct. 26, 2017 letter. A church source in Guangdong, who asked not to be named, told Asia News that at the time of the letter Bishop Zhuang “refused to obey and rather ‘carry His Cross’ for being disobedient.”
The bishop was secretly ordained in 2006 with Vatican approval.The Chinese government does not recognize the ordination, and considers the bishop to be a priest. The government supports Bishop Huang Bingzhang, a member of China’s parliament, called the National People’s Congress, for Zhuang’s position. This bishop was excommunicated in 2011 when he accepted episcopal ordination without the Vatican’s permission.
In December the elderly Bishop Zhuang was reportedly escorted to Beijing, despite poor health and cold weather, where he met separately with leaders of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, officials from China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs, and the Vatican delegation.
If Bishop Zhuang resigned, the Holy See delegation reportedly said, he could nominate three priests, one of whom Bishop Huang would choose as his vicar general.
“Bishop Zhuang could not help his tears on hearing the demand,” Asia News’ source said, explaining “it was meaningless to appoint a vicar general, who is still a priest that Bishop Huang could remove him anytime.”
The controversy is part of a delicate diplomatic effort to advance Vatican-Chinese relations while also considering the circumstances of underground Catholics. Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli is responsible for the negotiations and was identified by Asia News as head of the Vatican delegation.
Even bishops in the patriotic association can be faithful to the Holy See, and they sometimes bristle against the association. Shanghai’s Auxiliary Bishop Taddeus Ma Daqin was jointly approved for ordination by the Holy See and the Chinese government, but announced his resignation from the patriotic association at his July 2012 ordination Mass. He was immediately placed under house arrest. Though he later appeared to back away from his stance against the association, he still faced isolation.
Initially eight bishops illicitly ordained as part of the patriotic association were awaiting recognition from the Holy See, but one of them passed away last year.
For its part, the Chinese government under President Xi Jinping is pursuing an effort to “Sinicize” religion. In his role as general secretary of the Communist Party, last October, Jinping called for “new approaches” to religious and ethnic affairs.
“The gist is to demand all religions to uphold an independent principle and follow the leadership of the Community Party,” Asia News said.
Other arrangements to reunify the country’s licit and illicit bishops are underway in the Diocese of Mindong in China’s eastern Fujian province. Its ordinary, Bishop Joseph Guo Xijin, is an underground Catholic who was detained for a month before Holy Week in 2017.
Citing local sources, Asia News said the Vatican delegation has asked the bishop to voluntarily accept a position as coadjutor bishop under Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu, one of the seven illicitly ordained bishops favored by the government. This was also among the conditions Chinese officials had proposed to Bishop Guo during his detention.
According to canon law, coadjutor bishops have the right to succeed the bishop in their diocese, meaning that, in principle, Zhan could eventually resume the leadership of a diocese.
Bishop Zhan did not confirm the meeting to Asia News or discuss the recognition process in detail, but said there are regular meetings between Vatican and Chinese officials about the negotiations.
Two leading cardinals in the region have different views of Vatican diplomacy in China.
In a February 2017 article for the Hong Kong’s Sunday Examiner newspaper, Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong said the illicitly ordained bishops are willing to show their obedience to the Pope. He voiced optimism that the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association could transform into a more voluntary body.
In May 2017, the Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen voiced skepticism of the Vatican’s current diplomatic approach towards China. In his view, the Pope’s advisors are “giving bad advice.” He doubted the goodwill of the government.
“They are still controlling the Church and they want to control it even more,” he said.
However, Cardinal Zen has also voiced optimism about the clergy of the Chinese-recognized Catholic association.
“The majority of the priests and bishops in the official church, they may, in their heart, still (be) very much united with the universal church, but they are under tight control,” he told CNA in February 2017.
Hagatna, Guam, Jan 18, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An embattled archbishop in Guam has denied an allegation that he raped his nephew nearly 20 years ago, when his accuser was a teen.
Mark Apuron, nephew of Guam’s Archbishop Anthony Apuron, filed a lawsuit Jan. 10, claiming that his uncle raped him in a Church bathroom in 1989 or 1990. This is the fifth lawsuit to accuse the archbishop of sexual abuse of minors during his time as a pastor and bishop.
“God is my witness: I deny all allegations of sexual abuse made against me, including this last one,” wrote Archbishop Apuron in a Jan. 18 statement, according to Guam Pacific Daily News.
“All of these allegations have been mentored and promoted by the same source and this one seems particularly timed to influence the verdict of the Vatican trial conducted by the Holy See, as a last resort out of fear that I may be exonerated,” he continued.
In addition to this claim, Apuron faces four other accusations from former altar boys, who charged the archbishop with abuse in the 1970s when he served as a parish priest in Agat. The first allegations against the archbishop were made public in May 2016. Mark’s attorney, David Lujan, said that his client was too ashamed and embarrassed to tell his family about the alleged abuse until recently.
Pope Francis relieved Apuron of his pastoral and administrative authority in 2016 and he was replaced by Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes, formerly of Detroit. In October of that year, Apuron’s canonical trial at the Vatican began, which could dismiss him from the clerical state. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a canon lawyer, was appointed by Pope Francis as the trial’s presiding judge.
Byrnes has told reporters that the Vatican reached a decision in the case in October 2017, though no information regarding the trial’s outcome has been released.
Byrnes, who is empowered by the Vatican to oversee the Archdiocese of Agana but has not yet formally succeeded Apuron, has since implemented new child protection policies in the archdiocese, including a safe environment program that Byrnes said will “help to instigate a change of culture in our Archdiocese.”
Byrnes adopted in February 2017 the US bishops’ conference’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and its essential norms on dealing with allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clerics.
Apuron, who is currently recovering from a surgery, wrote that he hopes the truth will come out and that he will continue to pray for his accusers.
“As the Church in Guam is being destroyed by people who have only their power agenda at heart, may God have mercy on us all and save His Church from the powers of darkness,” Apuron wrote. “I pray that the truth may prevail; I pray for my accusers: fill them with what they desire; as for me, when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your face, oh Lord (Ps. 17,15)”.
The Archdiocese of Agaña is currently a defendant in 96 sexual abuse lawsuits, involving Apuron, 13 priests, a Catholic schoolteacher, a Catholic school janitor, and a Boy Scout leader. Most of the lawsuits were filed after 2016, when Guam’s territorial legislature eliminated the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits involving child sexual abuse.
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