Exclusive: Vatican and China in final
push for elusive deal on bishops
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[October 21, 2016]
By Lisa Jucca and Benjamin Kang Lim
ROME/HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) -
Representatives from the Vatican and China are expected to meet before
the end of the month in Rome in an effort to finalize a deal on the
ordination of bishops on the mainland, a move aimed at ending a
longstanding dispute, according to Catholic Church sources familiar with
the negotiations.
The Church sources also told Reuters that China is preparing to ordain
at least two new bishops before the end of the year and these
appointments would have the blessing of the Vatican. A person with ties
to the leadership in Beijing confirmed that these ordinations would go
ahead.
For more than six decades, China's ruling Communist Party has strongly
opposed Rome's right to ordain Chinese bishops in a bitter contest for
authority over as many as 10 million Catholics on the mainland. Bishops,
priests and lay Catholics loyal to Rome have faced persecution, which
has sparked scepticism over the détente in some Catholic quarters.
In yet a further sign of progress, the Vatican has reached a decision to
recognize at least four Chinese bishops who were appointed by Beijing
without the consent of the pope and so are considered illegitimate by
the Holy See, according to Catholic Church sources and others briefed on
the talks. The decision follows a breakthrough meeting in mid-August in
Beijing between the Vatican representatives to talks with China and
several of these bishops.
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For the Vatican, an agreement on the ordination of bishops is important
because it would lessen the possibility of a formal split within the
Catholic Church in China, which is divided between a community that
follows the state-sanctioned Catholic hierarchy and an "underground"
community that swears allegiance only to the pope in Rome. A deal on the
ordination of bishops would help to unite these two communities, say
Catholic Church and Vatican sources.
An agreement "would definitely remove the risk of a schism (within the
Church in China), which for sixty years has been a potential threat,"
said Elisa Giunipero, a researcher at the Catholic University of Milan
who has studied the history of the Catholic Church in China for 20
years.
PRIORITY FOR POPE FRANCIS
The latest developments are part of behind-the-scenes negotiations that
have been driven by Pope Francis. A deal on the ordination of bishops
would be a major leap forward in efforts to bridge a decades-old rift
between the Chinese Communist Party and the Vatican.
Since becoming leader of the Catholic Church in March 2013, Francis has
made it a priority to chart a new course in the Vatican's contentious
relationship with China. Reuters reported in July that Francis had
sought to meet President Xi Jinping during a 2014 trip to New York in an
effort to smooth the way to talks, and that a joint working group had
been set up earlier this year in April to hammer out a deal on the
bishops. The issue of full diplomatic relations is not currently on the
table. (http://reut.rs/29LTBpp)
A deputy spokesperson for the Vatican, Paloma Garcia Ovejero, said the
Holy See had no comment in response to questions from Reuters.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news
briefing in Beijing: "At present the channels for contact and dialogue
between the two sides are unimpeded and effective. We are willing to
work hard with the Vatican and meet each other halfway".
Vatican officials would like to see the appointment of the bishops
before China's Ninth National Assembly of Catholic Representatives,
which is expected to convene in December, according to Catholic sources.
The Assembly is the highest authority governing the church in China and
appoints the heads of the most important state-backed Catholic
institutions on the mainland – the Chinese Catholic Patriotic
Association and the Chinese Catholic Bishops' Conference.
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The Assembly last met six years ago when tensions were high between
Beijing and the Vatican over China's appointment of new bishops without
papal consent. The Vatican retaliated by excommunicating three of these
bishops in 2011 and 2012.
Now, the Vatican is anxious to conclude a deal on the ordination of
bishops to head off another showdown with Beijing and to forestall a
schism among China's Catholics, the Church sources say.
POSITIVE GESTURE
The ordination of new bishops in China is also pressing because some 30
of the more than 100 dioceses on the mainland are currently vacant,
while a similar number are led by aging bishops who are 75 or older.
Three people familiar with the negotiations said the talks about the
appointment of the new bishops were focused on the dioceses of Changzhi,
in the northern Shanxi province, and Chengdu, the capital of the
southwestern Sichuan province. Separately, a person with ties to the
leadership in Beijing said that the new bishops would be ordained in
Chengdu and the city of Xichang, in Sichuan.
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![](../images/102116pics/news_q31.jpg)
Pope Francis gestures to inmates as he meets with them at
Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia, September 27,
2015. REUTERS/Tony Gentile/File Photo
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It was during the last round of talks in Beijing in August that the
Vatican delegates were permitted to meet with several of the bishops
whom the pope does not recognize. Catholic sources say they view
this as a positive gesture by China, which had previously barred
contact between the bishops and Vatican representatives. The
meeting, the sources said, paved the way for Vatican recognition of
some of these bishops.
One of the bishops who met the Vatican delegation was Joseph Ma
Yinglin, the bishop of Kunming in Yunnan province, according to
Catholic sources. Ma is president of the Chinese Catholic Bishops'
Conference and vice-chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic
Association. Both institutions answer to the Chinese Communist Party
and are not recognized by the Vatican.
Along with Ma, the other three bishops whom the Vatican is set to
recognize are Guo Jincai, the bishop of Chengde in Hebei province
near Beijing; Yue Fusheng, the bishop of Harbin in the northern
Heilongjiang province; and Tu Shihua, the bishop of Puqi in Hunan
province.
In total, there are eight bishops whom the Vatican has refused to
recognize. Of the remaining four, two have children or girlfriends
and the other two head dioceses where there is already an existing
bishop who has been approved by the Vatican, according to Catholic
sources.
During the August meeting in Beijing, the sides agreed on the
principles that would govern the appointment of new bishops, say
people with knowledge of the talks. According to a draft agreement,
new Chinese bishops will be chosen by local clergy, with the pope
making the final appointment. The pontiff can veto a candidate, for
instance on ethical grounds, provided the Vatican presents evidence
supporting such a decision to Beijing.
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OBSTACLES REMAIN
For the Vatican, which is the only Western state that doesn't have
diplomatic ties with Beijing, further détente with China following a
deal on the bishops could make life easier for Christians on the
mainland who have suffered decades of persecution at the hands of
the Chinese authorities. For Beijing, better relations with the Holy
See could improve its international standing and ultimately pry the
Vatican away from the self-governing island of Taiwan, which China
views as a renegade province.
Taiwan's foreign ministry said on Friday it was paying close
attention to the developments and exchanges between China and the
Vatican, adding that Taiwan and the Vatican had long been friends
and had "firm" relations.
In some quarters of the Catholic Church, including among the
underground community in China, there is concern over a deal between
the Vatican and Beijing. That's especially the case in Hong Kong,
where local missions and clergy maintain ties with foreign and
Chinese priests working on the mainland, often underground. Some
fear the Vatican may make too many concessions to Beijing and that a
deal will not lead to an improvement in the lives of Catholics in
China.
Despite the progress toward an agreement on the ordination of new
bishops, the Vatican and China are still at loggerheads over a range
of other issues. In one case, for instance, some Chinese officials
are still pushing for the appointment of a bishop without papal
approval, according to two Church sources.
The matter of Thaddeus Ma Daqin also needs to be settled. Ma, the
auxiliary bishop of Shanghai, was placed under house arrest in 2012
when he announced at his ordination as a bishop that he could no
longer remain in the state-backed Catholic Patriotic Association. Ma
remains under house arrest despite writing in a blog post in June
that his move had been "unwise."
There is also the issue of some 30 bishops who belong to the
underground Catholic community and who, along with local priests,
face pressure from the authorities to join the state-sanctioned
Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. The Vatican is hoping that
China will recognize these bishops once the issue of the eight
bishops it considers illegitimate has been resolved, say Catholic
officials.
(Reporting by Lisa Jucca and Benjamin Kang Lim; Additional reporting
by Philip Pullella in Rome, J.R. Wu in Taipei and Ben Blanchard in
Beijing; Editing by Peter Hirschberg.)
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