<$BlogRSDUrl$>

Monday, September 12, 2005




BREAKDOWN IN VATICAN-BEJING DIPLOMACY

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Beijing has banned Chinese bishops from attending an October synod in Rome, with state-controlled Catholic groups criticizing the Vatican for inviting a prelate from the underground church.

According to Monday's China Daily, the Chinese Catholic Bishops College and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association expressed regret Sunday over the Vatican's naming of Chinese bishops who, they said, were unable to attend the synod in Rome.

The Vatican announced Thursday that Pope Benedict XVI invited four Chinese bishops to attend a synod in Rome on Oct. 2. Three of the invited prelates are from China's state-sanctioned church, but one, Giuseppe Wei Jingyi, bishop of Qiqihar in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province, is a member of the underground church not recognized by Beijing.


Continue reading...


=================================

Asia News presents a somewhat different picture of the situation:

Our impression is that the last word has not yet been said on the four bishops’ invitation to Rome. A Chinese Catholic told AsiaNews that “if the government wants to send the bishops to Rome, no Patriotic Association can stop them.”

The last word in fact belongs to President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. One factor that is still a source of some hope is what appears to be a certain detachment from the normal practices of the Patriotic Association in government decisions. The naming of the auxiliary bishops of Shanghai and Xian came about with the tacit agreement between the Vatican and the government, without going through the Patriotic Association. In fact, with the Stalinist and Cultural Revolution mentality of its executives, the Patriotic Association is, at this point, creating more problems than solutions for Chinese Catholics. In many regions, there is enough tension between the Patriotic Association executives and the faithful, both underground and official, to jeopardize the project for a “harmonious society” close to the people that Hu Jintao has been pursuing.



This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?





Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com

<< # St. Blog's Parish ? >>