Who knows if China really wants an agreement with the Holy See?

According to the Wall Street Journal the "historic agreement" will be signed by the end of September. But announcements of this type have been happening for years. The Pope and the Vatican are ready, but China is divided: it favors the foreign ministry; against the United Front and the Patriotic Association which continue unperturbed to persecute the Church and religions. The silence of Beijing and Xi Jinping.

Sep 22, 2018

By Bernardo Cervellera
The authoritative Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Sept 14, released the news that China and the Vatican “are ready to sign a historic agreement” by the end of the month. The agreement concerns the procedure for the appointment of bishops, in which China has the power of appointment and the Pope would have the power of temporary veto or confirmation. On the other hand — according to the WSJ — he would be recognised as “head of the Catholic Church in China” and “in exchange” should “recognise seven excommunicated bishops,” who were elected and ordained without papal mandate.

In reality, the lifting of the excommunication for the seven bishops is the result of a personal journey undertaken by these bishops with the Pope, and is not a “leverage” in the negotiations between the Holy See and the Beijing government. But beyond these canonical clarifications, it is worth pointing out what the WSJ says in the article: that “the agreement could still fail or be postponed, due to unforeseen events.”

And here is the point. For at least three years now, Italian and Vatican journalists have in turn announced that the agreement between China and the Vatican would be soon signed. It was discussed — always quoting anonymous people, but “having inside knowledge of the Vatican-Chinese dossier” — in November 2016, at the end of the Year of Mercy; then in June 2017; then last March and now the end of September. And so far, nothing has happened.

We can honestly say that nobody knows “neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25,13) when this agreement would be signed. This “not knowing” does not depend on the Pope and the Vatican. To date, Pope Francis has shown great love and respect towards the Chinese people and their history and has the desire to go to China; the Vatican delegation seems willing to grant any concession in order to have a small, even temporary agreement with the Chinese giant. The fundamental question — which a few journalists and observers pose — is whether China is really interested in this agreement. In the past, some commentators have attributed the reason for the delay, to the division among Catholics in China and the rest of the world. In reality, the divisions are within the same Politburo.

On the one hand there is the Foreign Ministry, which is open to international politics and therefore would be favourable to the signing of the agreement: resulting in a massive gain for China in terms of its global image and international reputation, which right now is suffering because of the tug of war with the United States; it would shake Taiwan – left only with the Vatican among EU nations that recognises it from a diplomatic point of view.

But there is also the United Front, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Patriotic Association, which govern the daily life of Christian communities, enriching themselves with their controls and expropriations of Church property. For them, any space given to relations with the Vatican represents a threat to their absolute power. For this reason, they continue to resist showing their hegemony: with churches and crosses destroyed; seizure of land; ban on young people attending churches; sinicisation, — that is the assimilation to Chinese culture and submission of non-Chinese cultures, of every activity and all theological and liturgical thought.

Besides, the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences claims to know “no details of the agreement, or when it may be signed,” while many in the Chinese Church want an agreement, but nobody knows when this will happen.--AsiaNews

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