CV NEWS FEED // China’s reluctance to speak about the Vatican in relation to the Chinese Catholic Church could mean problems for the future of Catholicism in China, according to a recent op-ed from AsiaNews.
Fr. Gianni Criveller, an author and theology professor who taught in China for over 25 years, wrote that 2024 is going to be a decisive year for relations between China and the Vatican. This year, both powers will need to either renew or abandon their 2018 agreement, which allows China to put forward clergy for episcopal ordination. Pope Francis has the power to either approve or veto China’s candidates.
According to Criveller, the fact that three new bishops were recently ordained with approval from both China and the Vatican gives the impression that China is unwilling to break the agreement.
“It should be remembered that this ‘good’ news must be contextualised: if it is true that the Pope appoints the bishops, they are not chosen by him but by an autonomous process led by the Chinese authorities, the details of which are not known, as the text of the agreement remains secret,” Criveller wrote.
He added that though Francis is the party officially approving bishops, “in no way… are the Pope and the Holy See or the agreement mentioned when these appointments are announced.”
Criveller warned that China’s reluctance to acknowledge the role of the Vatican in the Chinese Catholic Church becomes more alarming after reading the Five-Year Plan for the Sinicization of Catholicism in China.
The Plan states:
It is necessary to intensify research to give theological foundation to the sinicization of Catholicism, to continuously improve the system of sinicized theological thought, to build a solid theoretical foundation for the sinicization of Catholicism, so that it constantly manifests itself with Chinese characteristics.
The plan could be perceived as “a stage in the legitimate ecclesial process of inculturation,” but Criveller said that in reality, it is a disguised takeover by the government.
“[H]ere there are no believers who freely seek a virtuous dialogue between the Catholic faith and their own cultural belongings,” he wrote. “Rather, it is about imposition and, by an authoritarian regime, of the adaptation of the practice of faith to the religious policy established by the political authorities.”
Criveller added that the Plan was approved in December 2023 by two organizations that are supervised by the Communist Party office that manages Chinese religious life. It was not approved by the Vatican.
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