| Page 2 of 2 < |
China, Vatican Edge Toward Accord
Two Catholic men pray near an image of Jesus Christ during an Easter Friday service at the officially sanctioned Nantang Cathedral in Beijing Friday April 14. Since Beijing cut formal ties with the Vatican in 1951, the Communist government has only allowed the faithful to worship in churches run by the state-sanctioned Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Millions, however, flout that requirement by belonging to groups loyal to the Vatican.
(Greg Baker - AP)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"I can confidently say these are not major problems," Zen said. "They can be overcome."
Hopes rose for swift improvement in China-Vatican relations a year ago after the death of Pope John Paul II and the ascension of Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. Because of his association with the anti-communist movement in his native Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, John Paul was particularly distrusted in Beijing. In addition, he outraged Chinese leaders in 2000 by canonizing 120 Chinese saints on Oct. 1, the Chinese national day celebrated to mark the advent of communist rule in Beijing. Earlier contacts were frozen after that incident.
But even with Benedict on the papal throne, the idea that the Chinese could look to Rome for inspiration in anti-government activity -- farmer riots, for instance, or labor disputes -- has continued to haunt party leaders. "They cannot accept that part of the Chinese people would accept orders from abroad," Ren said.
More recently, Benedict's nomination of Zen as cardinal, announced Feb. 22, has irritated Beijing because of Zen's outspoken support of democracy advocates in Hong Kong and his suggestion that Chinese leaders should "tell the truth" about the killings of democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. With such stands, Zen, a 74-year-old Shanghai native, has come to embody what party leaders fear from the Catholic church if it is allowed to operate on its own authority in China.
"In the eyes of Beijing, this is dangerous," said Joseph Yu-shek Cheng, a political science professor who is active in the Hong Kong democracy movement and is a Catholic.
Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, said Zen's nomination amounted to a challenge to Beijing similar to the one mounted against Poland's communist leadership by John Paul two decades ago. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing also complained, warning that the Vatican should not interfere in China's affairs.
Zen acknowledged that his support for democracy activists in Hong Kong is a "headache" for Beijing. But he discounted fears that Catholics would be a force for anti-government protest in the mainland if relations were normalized with the Vatican.
"They are not going to be Che Guevara," he said with a laugh. "The church in China would not start a revolution, certainly not."
Zen recently predicted that Vatican-China relations will be normalized by the time Beijing holds the Olympics in 2008. Ye Xiaowen, chief of China's Administration of Religious Affairs, responded that Beijing has no timetable in mind, but also suggested a formula on nominating bishops could be worked out in consultations.
