Vatican and China in final push for elusive deal on ordinations
VATICAN CITY/CHINA: Representatives from the Vatican and China are expected to meet before the end of the month in Rome in an effort to finalise a deal on the ordination of bishops on the mainland, a move aimed at ending a longstanding dispute, according to Catholic Church sources.
The Church sources also said 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 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 de´ tente in some Catholic quarters.
In yet a further sign of progress, the Vatican has reached a decision to recognise 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. The decision follows a breakthrough meeting in mid-August in Beijing between the Vatican representatives to talks with China and several of these bishops.
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 statesanctioned Catholic hierarchy and an ‘‘underground’’ community that swears allegiance only to the Pope. 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 60 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.
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. It was 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.
A deputy spokesperson for the Vatican, Paloma Garcia Ovejero, said the Holy See had no comment in response to questions. The Chinese foreign ministry didn’t respond to questions.
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 statebacked Catholic institutions on the mainland - the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
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.
The ordination of new bishops in China is also pressing because about 30 of the more than 100 dioceses on the mainland are currently vacant, while a similar number are led by bishops who are 75 or older. - Reuters