Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
by Gianni Valente
"I am pleased with the dialogues with China. The results are good. Even for the appointment of bishops, things are progressing with goodwill".
This is what Pope Francis said on Friday during the press conference on the plane on the return journey from Singapore to Rome.
This dialogue, and the Provisional Agreement that is an important instrument, have not been spared criticism in the international press. However, if we stick to the facts, the papal judgment is an act of simple Christian realism.
Some facts
To correctly evaluate Pope Francis' words in response to the question posed by Stefania Falasca for the Chinese online newspaper Tianou Zhiku, it is worth taking into account some recent facts. And it is also worth not forgetting the past that preceded the current historical phase.
- Since September 22, 2018, the day of the signing of the Provisional Agreement, all the Catholic Bishops of the People's Republic of China have been in full and public hierarchical communion with the Pope. There are no longer any illegitimate episcopal ordinations, celebrated without papal approval, which had seriously damaged ecclesial communion among Chinese Catholics since the late 1950s.
- In the last six years, also marked by a period of rare contact in relations between the parties during the pandemic, nine new Catholic bishops have been ordained in China. In the same period, eight so-called "non-official" bishops, ordained in the past outside the procedures imposed by the Chinese apparatus, have asked for and obtained public recognition of their function also from the political authorities in Beijing (one of them, the elderly Peter Lin Jiashan, Bishop of Fuzhou, later died in April 2023). Thus, the number of vacant Chinese dioceses is gradually decreasing.
- In 2018 and then in 2023, two bishops from the People's Republic of China participated in the Assemblies of the Synod of Bishops in Rome. In previous decades, no bishop from mainland China had been able to take part in the Second Vatican Council and the General Assemblies of the Synod of Bishops, which express the communion of the entire Catholic Church.
- In recent years, groups of Catholics from mainland China have participated in the World Youth Day in Lisbon. Chinese pilgrims have seen the Successor of Peter in person in Rome and during his Apostolic Visits to Thailand, Mongolia and Singapore. Several Chinese bishops have also been able to participate in meetings, conferences and moments of ecclesial communion in Europe and America.
- Opportunities have increased to initiate processes of reconciliation in ecclesial communities that have been divided for decades.
- In the past 2 years, there have been moments of tension, such as when Bishop Joseph Shen Bin was transferred to Shanghai at the request of government authorities in April 2023. Three months later, Pope Francis resolved the matter by appointing Shen Bin bishop of Shanghai, transferring him from the episcopal See of Haimen. On May 21, Joseph Shen Bin was one of the speakers (along with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin) at the Conference on the centenary of the first Concilium Sinense (1924/2024), organized in Rome by the Pontifical Urbaniana University (dependent on the Dicastery for Evangelization) in collaboration with Fides Agency. It was the first time in a very long time that a Bishop of the People's Republic of China participated as a speaker in an initiative organized by a Dicastery of the Holy See.
- More recently (see Fides, 22/6/2024), the transfer of Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang from the diocese of Zhoucun to the diocesan see of Hangzhou took place without problems. This is a sign that the channels of communication between the Holy See and Beijing are experimenting with agreed procedures even on the issue of the transfer of bishops from one diocese to another, within the framework of the comprehensive dialogue that has been going on for years.
The blossoming treasure
Pope Francis' judgment recognizes facts that are usually ignored in so many analyses on the "China-Vatican" theme. Yet these facts represent the compass that the Bishop of Rome and the Holy See follow in order to be close to and accompany the journey of Chinese Catholics in the context in which they live and witness to their love for Christ.
The Bishops are the successors of the Apostles. And the Agreement with the Chinese government on the appointment of Bishops has to do with the intimate nature of the Church, with its apostolic mission, and with the ecclesial rifts that have divided clergy and laity, communities and families in China in recent decades.
It is the bishops who ordain the priests. The Agreement therefore also has to do with the validity and efficacy of the sacraments celebrated in the parishes and churches of the People's Republic of China. Things that belong to a different category than the usual political reading grid.
The intention of the Pope and the Apostolic See is not to affirm a position of supremacy of a political order. Their task is to confirm the brothers and sisters in the faith, to console them and support them in their journey of prayers, of proclamation of the Gospel and works of charity, in the context in which they find themselves.
In mainland China – explained Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization - "there is a whole living network of prayers, liturgies, catechesis and pastoral initiatives directly inspired by the ordinary Magisterium of the Pope. It is a network that is intertwined with the daily ecclesial life of each Chinese diocese and of the Catholic communities. It is a living and intense reality of faith that daily lives and expresses communion of faith with the Successor of Peter and the entire universal Church, even if it is generally ignored by the media when they speak of Chinese Catholicism".
Despite the limitations imposed by the political and social context, ecclesial life in China continues in its normality, even in the dioceses that are regaining stability after long years of uncertainty and division, after changes that have been made possible thanks to dialogue between the Holy See and the government Authorities.
Looking only at the last few days, local ecclesiastical chronicles report that Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Shanghai celebrated the baptism of 41 catechumens on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the presence of over 2,500 faithful. Bishop Paul Xiao Zejiang of the Diocese of Guiyang, who also celebrated the Feast of the Virgin Mary, stressed that in the 17 years of his episcopate, "despite the difficulties, under the protection of our Heavenly Mother and the guidance of the Lord, I often find consolation in my life as a pastor."
During their stay in the Diocese of Shantou, on the occasion of the “Feast of the Moon” (which falls on September 17), numerous volunteers together with Bishop Joseph Huang Bingzhang visited the Rehabilitation Center, which also welcomes people affected by leprosy, bringing the patients sweets and other gifts typical of the Feast.
Bishop Huang, who was ordained without a papal mandate in 2011, was able to return to full ecclesial communion with the Pope in 2018, with the signing of the Provisional Agreement on the Appointment of Chinese Bishops.
The works and gestures of salvation and healing, the sole reason for all ecclesial activity, can continue to flourish if they find ways of legitimizing them in today's China. This is the treasure that the Pope most appreciates. In full and consoling harmony with the sensus fidei of the majority of Chinese Catholics. (Agenzia Fides, 14/9/2024)
