In the city of Hubei, the “congress” in charge of dictating the line and renewing positions takes place. Vice Minister Cui Maohu praised the “autonomy and independence” of the Chinese Church and called for “serious study and implementation of President Xi Jinping’s guidelines.” In the balance of the six years that have elapsed since the previous Assembly, the Agreement with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops is not even mentioned.
Wuhan () – The 10th National Assembly of Chinese Catholic Representatives opened today, the most important meeting of the “official” bodies controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. The Assembly is attended by 345 delegates from the 28 administrative subdivisions of the country. The city hosting the event is Wuhan -in the Hubei region- which jumped onto the world stage due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the vision of the Party, the Assembly is a kind of congress in charge of dictating the line to the Catholics and renewing the leadership positions. The first was held in February 1957 in Beijing and it was on that occasion that the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics was formed to mark their autonomy from Rome. After the second, held in 1962, the assemblies were suspended during the years of the Cultural Revolution, when persecution hit Catholicism hard, even its “official” branch. The third could only be held in 1980, when the Council of Catholic Bishops of China was created, also strictly controlled by the Party.
The 10th Assembly takes place six years after the previous one, held in Beijing in 2016, and on the eve of the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, in which a confirmation of President Xi Jinping’s third term is awaited. It is clear that the choice of Wuhan is not causal: the great city of Hubei is, in fact, a place with a long history for the Catholic community in China. In the 19th century, due to its location on the banks of the Yangtze River, the city of Hankou – the historical part of present-day Wuhan – was the place where evangelization in the interior of China converged. After the victory of Mao’s communists and the expulsion of all foreign missionaries, on April 13, 1958, the first ordination of two bishops took place without the approval of the Holy See: Bishop Bernardino Dong Guangqing, bishop of Hankou, and Bishop Marcos Yuan Wenhua, Bishop of Wuchang. After the death in 2007 of Bishop Dong Guangqing (who had in the meantime requested and received a return to communion with Rome), the diocese remained vacant for 14 years. Finally, on September 8, 2021, the ordination of Monsignor Joseph Cui Qingqi at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Wuhan, the last to date within the framework of the Sino-Vatican Agreement on the appointment of bishops signed “ad experimentum” in October 2018 and renewed for another two years in 2020.
Precisely in the city of Hubei, the three-day National Assembly of Catholics has just been inaugurated. Present at the meeting are Cui Maohu, director of the State Religious Affairs Bureau and vice minister of the United Front Work Department, and Ning Yong, member of the provincial assembly and director of the Hubei Provincial United Front. The inaugural session was presided over by the bishop of Chengde, Guo Jincai, one of those who were illicitly ordained and who was readmitted to ecclesial communion by Pope Francis in 2018.
As planned, in his speech, Deputy Minister Cui Mahou highlighted the autonomy of the Chinese Church. He praised her for having “strengthened her ideological and political leadership” and for adhering to the principles of autonomy and independence of the Church under the banner of love of country and religion. He also highlighted the fact that she has promoted “the formation of a Chinese ideology and theology”. The deputy minister continued to invite Catholics to “seriously study and put into practice President Xi Jinping’s directives on religious work, as well as the central government’s decisions to guarantee the principles of autonomy and self-management, promote the sinicization of Church and the patriotism of the faithful, strengthen the guidance of the Church and the role of patriotic bodies”.
After the introduction of the Archbishop of Beijing, Monsignor Li Shan, it was the turn of the Bishop of Haimen, Monsignor Shen Bin, who read the report that summarized the achievements obtained since the last Assembly in 2016 and the work perspectives for the next five years. . For Bishop Shen Bin, “the Chinese Church has maintained the correct political direction, has united and guided the faithful to uphold the banner of love for the country and religion, and has preserved the principles of autonomy and self-management of the Church”. He further stressed that it continued democratic administration, promoted evangelization and charitable services, thus writing a new chapter in history.”
It should be noted that -according to the information provided in the summary of the event published by the Patriotic Association– Neither the Bishop of Haimen nor Vice Minister Cui Mahou made any reference to the Sino-Vatican Agreement on the appointment of bishops. The omission is striking, as it should have been one of the most important events in the life of the Catholic Church in China between 2016 and today. This confirms once again the little weight that the Patriotic Association gives to the agreement between the government of the People’s Republic of China and the Holy See. From the point of view of the “official” organisms, it would not represent more than a mere ratification, on the part of Rome, of the autonomously elected bishops. In addition, for almost a year there have been no new appointments of bishops, despite the fact that Pope Francis expressed his desire to renew the Agreement when it expires, in October of this year.
RED LANTERNS” IS THE ASIANEWS NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO CHINA
DO YOU WANT TO RECEIVE IT EVERY THURSDAY IN YOUR EMAIL? SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER AT THIS LINK
Add Comment