Vatican crisis with China: the accusation of having violated an agreement for the appointment of bishops

A long-awaited crisis has broken out between the Vatican and China, which has accused the Beijing government for the first time violate the 2018 agreement for the appointment of bishops and renewed twice. A statement from Rome expresses “surprise and regret” that the authorities have appointed Monsignor John Peng Weizhao as auxiliary bishop of Yujiang, in the province of Jiangxi.

the diocese it is not recognized from the Holy See.

“This event did not take place in the spirit of dialogue between the Vatican and the Chinese side,” the statement said.

A provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops was signed on 22 September 2018, ending decades without diplomatic relations since the birth of the People’s Republic of China led by Communist leader Mao Tse Tung. They have since been nominated by mutual agreement only six bishops.

The accusation

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The Holy See’s statement came a day after a Hong Kong court sentenced former Hong Kong archbishop Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun. With five other people, the 90-year-old cardinal was found guilty of failure to register a charity fund for pro-democracy protesters imprisoned in Hong Kong.

He was fined HK$4,000, about $490.

Cardinal Zen had even been held for a few hours in a cell with the other five people when the police raided his home.

Dad so far he hasn’t said a word sentence of the cardinal’s arrest nor did he react to the news of the conviction. The clamorous silence of the Vatican and of Francis has been criticized as unusual and scandalous, when the Argentine Pope always reacts to these situations against members of the clergy, however modest they may be.

Imagine a cardinal like Zen, notoriously opposed to the agreement between the Vatican and China, critical of the Pope, who did not want to receive him after years in which the cardinal traveled to Rome and asked to interview him.

During the return flight to Rome after a recent apostolic journey to Khazakhstan, in the traditional press conference of Francis, the journalist Elise Allen of “Crux” asked him what could he say about freedom religious in China, “especially with the trial of Cardinal Zen”.

The Pope replied generically on the difficulties of understanding China and on the importance of dialogue. He said that “I don’t mind describing China as undemocratic because it’s a very complex country.”

He added that Cardinal Zen “says what he feels and it shows that there are limits there. But before qualifying, I try to support the path of dialogue”.

Not a word of sympathy by a church prince who had been arrested at the age of 90 and fined a ridiculous $490 after his trial.

After the case of Cardinal Zen comes the case of the bishop of Yugiang. And for the first time the Holy See is protestingmonths after renewing the agreement with China, in which there have been several cases, like the last one, when the Vatican apparently said enough.

The pressures

The Vatican noted that the appointment of Msgr. Peng to auxiliary bishop by the Chinese authorities came about “after long and heavy pressure from the Chinese authorities”. The protest did not elaborate on other details.

The Holy See has warned that it is waiting for explanations from the authorities and “that similar episodes do not happen again” after what happened “it does not fit the period of dialogue” that the parties had announced when the 2018 agreement was signed and renewed every two years, most recently in October.

The curious thing about Bishop Peng’s case is that in 2014 he was secretly ordained a priest with the approval of the pope, four years before the signing of the agreement between the Beijing government and the Holy See.

The bishop was imprisoned for six months, accused of being an “underground” prelate.. Since his release, he has been closely monitored.

But he recently joined China’s Catholic organizations sanctioned by the communist state, in a ceremony in which appointed auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Yujiang, in the province of Jiangxi, a territory approved by the Chinese authorities but not recognized by the Holy See.

According to the Catholic news agency AsiaNews, the local bishop Li Suguang, who is also vice president of the Chinese Bishops’ Conference, also not recognized by the Holy See, presided over the ceremony.

The Pope has already lifted the excommunication of seven bishops ordained without permission from the Holy See. But the Vatican has decided not to tolerate further violations of the 2018 agreement and renewed every two years, most recently last month. The appointment of a bishop by the Pope must be communicated to China for its approval.

the agreement the long period of the two Churches came to an enda clandestine call, loyal to the Pope of Rome, and a “patriotic one, in the hands of the government.

Each autonomously nominated bishops, a situation spiced up by the persecution of the communist regime against the Church loyal to the Pope, which included arrests, prisons and other persecutions.

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