Mindong (Agenzia Fides) - The Pope "wanted us two bishops to go to his private chapel to concelebrate. Halfway through the Mass, he asked me to read the Gospel of the day in Chinese". This is perhaps the most beautiful and important memory that the Bishop of Funing/Mindong, Vincent Zhan Silu, took with him from his long stay in Rome in October.
Bishop Zhan Silu, together with another Chinese bishop, Joseph Yang Yongqiang (Bishop of the Diocese of Hangzhou), participated by papal appointment in the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which focused on the theme "For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission".
After his return to Mindong, the staff of the Diocese's Media Office published a video interview in which Bishop Zhan Silu recounts his weeks in Rome, marked by several meetings with Pope Francis and some Cardinals.
Fides publishes the complete transcript of the video interview and the first part of the video. Some details of the report of Bishop Zhan Silu are a precious testimony, also useful to understand the veneration that the Catholic Church of China has for the Bishop of Rome (GV).
VINCENT ZHAN SILU: The Pope was very benevolent in receiving us two bishops. He took my hands. I also took both of the Pope's hands in mine. I told him: "Holy Father, thank you for appointing me a member of the XVI Synod of Bishops. During the Synod of Bishops you received me many times. In this way the priests, nuns and lay people of my diocese feel very encouraged". Then the Pope also said with great affection: "Greet your parishioners on my behalf: I love them".
Bishop Zhan Silu, thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview. We, the members of the Diocese of Mindong, have followed your participation in the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican very closely. Could you briefly describe your impressions of the Synodal Assembly?
ZHAN SILU: First of all, we should thank God for the grace bestowed upon our diocese. I would also like to thank the Holy Father for calling me to participate in this XVI World Synod of Bishops. Bishop Yang and I flew to Rome on October 1st, and on October 2nd, the two of us bishops attended the opening Mass in St. Peter's Square, presided over by the Holy Father. We two Chinese bishops then attended all the sessions of the Synod until the closing Mass on October 27th, which was very fulfilling. The theme of the Synod was the building of a Synodal Church. The Synod had two forms: firstly, the contributions in the Plenary Assembly and secondly, participation in the round tables (of the different language groups, ed.). We two bishops gave speeches in the Plenary Assembly. We also participated in the daily round tables. My contribution was anticipated and published in L'Osservatore Romano and one of my proposals was adopted by the General Assembly as material for the document (the final document of the Synod, ed.).
On social media, we have seen many photos of Pope Francis with you. Could you tell us some of the important moments of the meeting during the Synod that were captured in the photos?
ZHAN SILU: Indeed, during the Synod, we had many opportunities to come into close contact with the Pope. The first time, on October 2, the opening day of the Synod, Bishop Yang and I presented the Pope with a statue of Our Lady of Sheshan on behalf of the Church of China. The Pope was very pleased. Then we gave the second gift to the Pope.
The second gift we gave the Pope was a calligraphy I wrote (a roll of cloth with Chinese characters, ed.) on which I wrote: 'Conquer trust with trust'. It is above all a praise of the person of the Pope, of his conduct, of his virtue. The word 'trust' implies good will and humility to win this trust and the love of the people of the world. When we two bishops presented this calligraphic scroll to the Pope and a priest translated the meaning of the words to the Pope, the Pope was very pleased, then he pointed his finger at the first character and said: "This word is misspelled". For a moment we were all taken aback, but then we realized that it was a subtle sense of humor on the part of the Pope... He did not dare to receive this kind of praise.
Another encounter with the Pope particularly moved me. The Pope had arranged for us two bishops to go to his private chapel to concelebrate. Halfway through the Mass, he asked me to read the Gospel of the day in Chinese. Then the Pope said to us: "Come with me to my study. You can take whatever you want." We saw so many things to take, but of course we couldn't take everything... We were thinking especially of the priests, the nuns, the consecrated lay people of our diocese. We wanted to see if we could take some rosaries as gifts for them, so I chose rosaries. I took many rosaries. And all the rosaries were given to us by the Pope himself!
On another occasion, the Pope gave us books. After dinner, we stood waiting for the Pope to come out of the dining room. When he came out after we said goodbye, the Pope picked up a lot of books. He said: "I specially chose the Chinese version of this book for you." I was deeply impressed. This wise man knew that we did not know any foreign languages, and he specially chose this Chinese version of the book for us, for which we were very grateful!
We have also followed your meetings with the Secretary of State and other Cardinals on social media. What are their answers and hopes for the present and future of our diocese of Mindong?
ZHAN SILU: First, there was an in-depth exchange with Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin looks with great interest at our diocese of Mindong, at how we have just started, and looks forward to us continuing to maintain the unity and communion of all of us. Our Prefect (Pro-Prefect, ed.) of Propaganda Fide, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, also has a great interest in our diocese of Mindong and hopes and encourages that our faithful are also united, that they live in community to promote development. He also gave me a personal gift, as you can see, this ring is Cardinal Tagle's gift, and he also gave me this pectoral cross and the crosier. I also gave him a gift, a calligraphy with the inscription Wan Fu (Editor's note: Wan Fu is literally the beginning of the Hail Mary in Chinese: Wan Fu Ma Li Ya. Wan Fu is also the acronym for the Dicastery for Evangelization: Wan Ming Fu Yin Zhuan Bo Bu) and we exchanged them and he was very happy, everyone was very happy.
We also spoke with Cardinal Lazarus You of the Dicastery for the Clergy. He too was particularly cordial to us two Chinese bishops.
Everyone has a great desire for the Church in China to do well, especially in the case of our diocese in Mindong, and he too knows it well, and he very much hopes that under my leadership, with the joint effort of the priests, we will be able to do a good job in the Church and that we will be able to make our Church better. So I believe that this is one of the opportunities that our diocese - I hope - will take to heart. I also hope that our diocese, our faithful and our priests will take to heart the expectations of the Church, including the Pope and these authoritative Cardinals, and I hope that we can all work together to make our diocese better.
(Agenzia Fides, 8/11/2024)
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