Cardinal Zen again warns Vatican not sell out to Chinese Commies

I confess that I have been remiss in not writing in years, literally, about the plight of the Catholic Church -- the underground Church -- in China. As I wrote in "China -- not a good place to be a democrat or a Catholic", WWW 15/6/14, I do pray Chinese Catholics who, if they wish to be loyal to and in communion with Rome, must worship in secret, like the first Christians. Theirs, not the so-called Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, a puppet of the Communist government, is the true Catholic Church in the Middle Kingdom.

After seizing power in 1949, the Mao's Communists set up the CPCA to separate China's Catholics from Holy Mother Church, requiring them to choose between China and Roman. Some bishops and priests, in fear of becoming martyrs, joined the schismatic puppet "church". Other remained loyal to the Pope and to Rome, and went underground, meeting secretly in private homes and other places. And many of them did become martyrs -- incarcerated in prisons and mental institutions, tortured and in many cases executed for their faith. See "Cardinal Zen: Vatican appeasement hurts true Church in China", WWW 23/2/13.

In recent times, during the papacy of John Paul II and his successors, under the misleadership of successive secretaries of state --  Cardinals Casaroli, Sodano and Bertone -- the Vatican has extended one olive branch after another to Beijing, bending over backwards to find some way of reconciling the "Communist Catholics" (an oxymoron if ever there was one) with the mainstream Roman Church. But the Commies keep appointing their own bishops and persecuting the few remaining bishops consecrated, some secretly, by the popes.

Now it appears that Rome is about to cave. The latest news is that the Vatican recently sent a delegation to China to ask two of the bishops it appointed to make way for two appointed by the Communist government -- a move that would represent a major concession by the Catholic Church. Cardinal Emeritus Joseph Zen (陳日君), erstwhile leader of the battle for China's Catholics, believes that "unifying the churches" in China would amount to an open persecution of true Catholics and a silencing of the underground church. He has tried to inject some iron into the jelly-like backbone of the Vatican by hand-delivering to the pope a plea from the faithful Catholics in China.

CNA reports that on Wednesday of this week, the prelate appeared in Saint Peter's Square, lined up in the cold with other petitioners, to deliver directly into the hands of Pope Francis a letter from the underground Catholic congregation in China, so that the Pope would better understand the situation on the ground. According to Italian media, Cardinal Zen said the letter was successfully delivered, and the Pope promised him that he would read it.

The meeting, however brief it may have been, and the secret letter from the underground church in China, is a clear signal that Cardinal Zen and other Catholics in Hong Kong and China object to the concessions of Pope Francis. The Cardinal has been an advocate for democracy and religious freedom throughout his life and service to the Holy See in Hong Kong. For this reason, he has often been the target of criticism and surveillance by the Communist government of China.

In December 2017, the prelate publicly made clear his views about the talk to "unify the churches" in China, referring to the underground Catholic community and the officially sanctioned CPCA. He lamented what he sees as a misguided change in policy on the part of the Vatican, and stated that he did not believe it was the aim of Pope Francis to pursue such an "evil plan".

If it's not the aim of Pope Francis, then who? Step forward Cardinal Pietro Parolin -- "Peter the Roman" -- who, as the Secretary of State of the Holy See is responsible for, among other things, international relations. For more on Petrus Romanus, see "'Peter the Roman' ready to take over from Pope Francis", WWW 14/1/18. Catholics! Don't say you haven't been warned!

Further reading: "My fight with the Vatican: An exclusive interview with Cardinal Zen on his battle for China's Catholics", Catholic Herald cover story, 19/5/17.

Further reading (more recent): "Danger of Schism in China. Cardinal Zen: 'The Pope Told Me...'", by Sandro Magister, in Settimo Cielo, 29/1/18. Of course I'm only a layman [no reference to #MeToo! Ed.] but it seems to me there is already schism in China. The CPCA is schismatic, having broken away from Holy Mother Church, just as Cardinal Zen affirms in paragraph 4 of his statement.