Chinese bishops to attend first Vatican synod
VATICAN CITY: Two Chinese Catholic bishops are to take part for the first time from Wednesday in a synod, or advisory body meeting, with peers at the Vatican, the Holy See said.
“The Holy Father had invited Chinese bishops in the past but they were never able to come,” said Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, who is to preside the synod of bishops on ‘ Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment’ from Oct 3-28.
The meeting of more than 300 church officials, outside experts and youth delegates will take place in the shadow of an existential crisis faced by the church owing to cases of widespread sexual abuse of minors by clergy and lay officials in several countries.
On Sept 22 meanwhile, the Vatican and China reached a provisional agreement under which Pope Francis recognised seven clergy initially ordained by Beijing without the Vatican’s approval.
The accord could pave the way for the normalisation of ties between the Catholic Church and the world’s most populous country.
One of those recognised, Bishop Joseph Guo Jincai, is to attend the October synod along with Bishop John Baptist Yang Xiaotin, another member of the Patriotic Catholic Association ( PCA), a body created by the Chinese government to administer the church.
They will join discussions on how to encourage young people to make the church their vocation, an official theme that could take a back seat to issues raised last March during a pre- synodal meeting of more than 300 youths in Rome along with 15,000 others online that were presented to church leaders. — AFP