ICC Note:

An agreement between the Catholic Church and the Chinese government which was originally viewed as a positive step for the Chinese Catholics, is being viewed by others as a step in the wrong direction. The doubt rises from a fear among Catholic clergy in China that they will be forced to join the Patriotic Association, a branch of the government that “submits bishops, clergy, and faithful to suffocating controls,” and takes clergy away from the congregation for a number of months to indoctrinate them. A high ranking bishop within the Patriotic Association was even quoted admitting, “We are all puppets. We just do what they tell us to do.” Thus, for many Chinese Catholics, the deal with Beijing looks like a step away from religious freedom.

11/7/2016 China (Asia News) – There is a widespread “despair”, “bitterness”, and even “anger” among the underground community of the Catholic Church in China. Underground communities are those who in the name of religious freedom guaranteed in the Chinese constitution, reject all the controls put in place by the Government on religious personnel, places of worship, activities, teachers and texts to be published and read. Above all, they refuse to sign up – and this  is part of the conditions imposed by the government – to the Patriotic Association (PA), whose statutes outline a national Church independent of the Holy See, because it is against the Catholic faith.

According to some priests, it was this “desperation” that pushed Fr. Dong Guanhua (underground priest) to be ordained illicitly, publicizing the announcement of his ordination along with his phone number and offering to ordain other bishops without the Holy See’s mandate.

The incident is very ambiguous (Fr. Dong’s mental health; the doubts of those who ordained him and when; the questions about who is the real instigator of this episode: whether it is someone in the underground Church or some government spy trying to humiliate all underground Catholics). The fact remains – demonstrated by the many comments that are on the internet – that the faithful of the underground Church are frustrated by the Holy See’s “oversight” toward them.

Some of them point out that for at least 20 years the Vatican has failed to appoint a successor when an underground bibishop dies, but at most indicates a priest as an apostolic administrator. In the eyes of the faithful, this decision is a kind of death sentence on their communities and dioceses. This has given rise to their “desperation”. Especially since at the same time, they see that the Vatican approving episcopal candidates who have already registered with the Patriotic Association, while rejecting it as “incompatible with Catholic doctrine” is by Benedict XVI as Pope Francis.

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