China change. Beyond that for the first time he publicly faces the US in the commercial battle that Donald Trump unleashed, the Chinese put their long pants and assumed their place as a second world power. It is so Nothing escapes his gaze todayfrom the early renovation of the swap I had with Argentina, to Who will be the next Pope of Catholics.
Until a few days ago it was considered that Cardinal Pietro Parolin was Beijing’s favorite to preside over the Church. After all those who have been the Secretary of State of the Vatican during the last twelve years, he managed to negotiate the “provisional agreement” between China and the Papterus -injured in 2020, 2022 and 2024 -.
Until then, the Chinese government controlled its Catholics, appointing the bishops through the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (APCC) after that in 1951 the communist government decided to expel the Apostolic Nuncio (even today the Vatican is not formally recognized, since it recognizes the Taiwan government). The other religious control agency is the Catholic Bishop Conference (COCC).
Yes ok The Chinese official church works basically in a collegiate way, The two maximum authorities are Bishop Joseph Li Shan, Archbishop of Beijing and Joseph Shen Bin, Bishop of Shanghai.
Within the ecclesiastical structure, the appointment of bishops is key, since beyond the issues of faith, the successors of the apostles are the highest authorities in their dioceses (territories), in charge of religious education, the appointment of priests and the management of money.
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While isolated, many Chinese Catholics did not yield to government pressure, which generated two churches, the “official” that depends on the government, and the “underground”, faithful to Rome. What Parolin achieved with the Agreement is to structure a joint procedure, where a certain authority of the Pope was recognized (By the canonical law only the Pope already his entire will designates the bishops in one of his six variants), who would have the last word in the appointments, although the truth is that this was never very clear since the agreement is secret.
The idea is that with this – which among other things involved the recognition of state bishops by Rome – took a first step towards formal recognition and unification with the western church and protected Catholics with greater persecutions. Estimates are that there are something like 12 million Catholics in China, half under the Egida of the APCC and the other clandestine half.
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Parolin’s agreement is part of the idea of the Vatican Ostpolitik (Eastern Policy)the approach that the Church had with the communist nations initiated by Paulo VI and the Arzopispo Casaroli and later with different non -democratic regimes seeking to preserve the presence of the Church, with at least questionable results.
In fact, Neither the APCC nor the COCC have mentioned the death of Francisco in its Internet sites And Parolin himself recently recognized that “the agreement is progressing very slowly, sometimes even going back.”
An example is enough, when in 2023 the Chinese authorities appointed Shen Bi Bishop of Shanghai without the approval of the Vatican, Francisco ended up recognizing him “for the good of the diocese.” But this is not the only reproach that Francisco is done on the Chinese front: worse was his mutism against the recurring abuses committed against the Uyghur and the silence before the persecution of the Catholic clergy, including the arrest of seven Catholic bishops who remain imprisoned without being subjected to trial.
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It is not surprising then that whoever did the most to stop the progress of communism and state control over the Church, Pope John Paul II was always a clear critic to Ostpolitik, which many consider is a betrayal of Catholics “of resistance”.
Despite all the intentions of Parolinin recent days China to start moving their chips and it seems that it is not in its favor. Last week, an assembly of local priests of Xinxiang “chose” a local priest and only candidate, Father Li Janlin, to be his new bishop, Although the Holy See was accentuated for Francisco’s death on April 21. The decision is seen as valid and final by the government in Beijing.
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The problem is that Xinxiang already has a bishop, Joseph Zhang Weizhui, Who was appointed by John Paul II in 1991 and for decades has been directing the “underground church”, even against the Government and has been arrested countless times and for a long time.
A day before, the 28 Wu Jianlin had been chosen auxiliary bishop of Shanghai. Parolin’s allies argue that these elections were scheduled before Francisco’s death, but the reality is that he had not hurried to do them during the “vacant headquarters” before the new Pope’s choice.
China’s play is clearly what we call a “wet from ear” to Parolin, highlighting the lack of respect from Beijing towards the papal candidate.
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On the other hand, whom this is the most is Cardinal Tagle de Filipinas A liberal aligned with Francisco – more than Parolin – whose grandfather was a Chinese Catholic, and who has been one of the most fervent drivers of a moderate approach with the state church, insisting that the agreement more than a pragmatic issue is a pastoral need.
With Trump’s three candidates out of the game -only for being American -among the papables with greatest chances, today Tagle is who – not only geographically – closer is from Beijing and further from Washington. His choice as a pontiff would then be another sample of the displacement of the world epicenter to China (and if he wants, a political defeat for Trump).
Source: Ambito
