The Seven Sorrows of China, Part IV

The Fourth Sorrow: A Broken Body: The Church in China

What is the real story of the Catholic Church in China? Are persecutions of bishops, priests, and faithful loyal to Rome easing up, as would be expected by a government that purports to be granting more religious freedom as part of its new "democratic approach"?

On June 30, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI released a rare papal document—a letter not for the entire Catholic world, nor to a continent, but to an individual country: To the Bishops, Priests, Consecrated Persons, and Lay Faithful of the Catholic Church in the People’s Republic of China.

Even a quick read of the document reveals that Pope Benedict has released a very carefully worded document that on the one hand calls for the true fidelity and obedience appropriate for a local church in communion with the Catholic Church universal, and at the same time deals with an unusually complex and sensitive set of circumstances.

Some of the serious issues which led the Pope to issue a specific letter to China include: the lack of normal diplomatic relations between China and the Vatican’s Holy See; the involvement of the Government in the internal affairs of the Church; the tensions and divisions within the Church, due in large part to the existence of a "Patriotic Church" established and sustained by the Government, which does not recognize the ultimate authority of the Pope, particularly in regards to the appointment of bishops; the status of the Chinese Bishops Conference; and the ongoing violations of freedom for Chinese Catholics who have remained in complete fidelity to Rome at the price of great personal suffering, persecutions, fines, imprisonment, and in some cases, torture and death.

The Holy Father, while offering profound spiritual insights and exhortations about the supernatural faith and hope that must sustain a Church under persecution, also puts forth some specific directives for Chinese shepherds and their flocks which, without some understanding of the complex situation of the Chinese Church, may be difficult to understand. He has defended the right of religious freedom for Chinese Catholics and has called for fidelity to the Bishop of Rome for all Catholics, but has given permission for the faithful to receive the sacraments at Government-associated Patriotic, or "Open," churches when grave inconvenience prevents access to a local church under a bishop approved by Rome. He has delegated to the bishops great pastoral latitude in seeking to address the complex spiritual and pastoral problems that come from a divided, largely uncatechized Church, whose clergy and religious oftentimes lack proper theological and spiritual formation (due in greater part, once again, to the intervention of the state). At the same time he has declared the Chinese Bishops Conference to be invalid, because of the prevailing influence of Patriotic bishops and the absence of any participation from most underground bishops.

How should the inspired teachings of Pope Benedict be properly understood and applied amidst bewildering divisions and ongoing persecutions experienced daily by the Church in China?

We must begin with a few distinctions. The following distinctions and their true case examples (with pseudonyms) regarding the present state of the Chinese Church were provided by some Catholic missionaries with unquestioned loyalty to the Holy Father, with decades of experience in Asian missionary work, and who has uncanny connections to reliable Catholic information sources throughout this expansive nation.

The present status of bishops can be summarized into three categories:

These are bishops appointed by the Holy See and who were consecrated by other bishops who were validly consecrated and are in communion with the Pope. This category of bishops is not approved by the Government (hence underground). The Government consistently persecutes these bishops, specifically through the agencies of the Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) and/or the Public Security Bureau (PSB). Underground bishops are typically under constant surveillance and consistently imprisoned or detained in isolation without warning, for anytime from a few days, to six months, to several years, and oftentimes without any reason beyond their refusal to join the Patriotic Church. One underground bishop commented that most of his fellow underground bishops have spent approximately 20 years in combined time of imprisonment or isolated detention.

Bishop Gao of Yantai, Shandong, after many years in prison and in poor health, died in prison in January 2005. Another underground bishop was told by the attending physician who went to examine and remove Bishop Gao’s body that the body, and particularly the limbs, exhibited a darkened color which the doctor believed was indicative of death by poisoning.

Another underground bishop, Bishop A, spent 13 years in prison, most of those years working under great physical duress at a forced-labor camp. During his prison time, he received more than 300 fellow inmates into the Church.

Before great Church feasts like Christmas and Easter, the RAB and PSB will frequently come and take the underground bishops away so that they are separated from their faithful. One underground bishop was admitted to surgery, and during his recovery in the hospital he was abducted by the police and brought to an undisclosed location for several weeks.

During their forced detainment, efforts are made to indoctrinate them against their uncompromised loyalty to Rome, and they are promised large sums of money, cars, and assignments to important cathedrals in influential cities if they will simply agree to an alliance with the Patriotic Church. Financial support is given by the Government for the physical upkeep of Patriotic cathedrals and local churches, whereas church buildings within underground dioceses are not supported, and are sometimes toppled to the ground by the Government. The Government forbids any foreign financial assistance for underground bishops and their dioceses.

These bishops are officially approved by the Government and are normally consecrated by other patriotic bishops, but without Vatican approval. They are often used by the Government to promote Government agendas.

One example of an official patriotic bishop is the recently deceased bishop of Beijing, Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan, who was known to have an active role in the Central Government as well as his ecclesiastical authority within the Beijing diocese (located within the capital of Communist China).

Some bishops were originally appointed by the Government without Vatican approval, consecrated by other patriotic bishops, but at some later time requested and obtained approval from the Holy See. Still other bishops were originally Vatican appointed, but later also received Government approval.

At present, approximately 80 percent of all bishops in China have Vatican approval.

In many instances, these bishops who have accepted Government approval as well as Vatican approval are pressured by the Government to compromise or betray their allegiance to Rome by participating in illegal consecrations of bishops—some are offered large sums of money and some are kidnapped and forced to attend these ordinations. Others are punished for their non-cooperation by Government refusal of building permits, salaries withheld, constant surveillance, and other forms of harassment. Pope Benedict’s letter reminds Vatican bishops that while Government approval does not in itself constitute a violation of loyalty to Rome, that it cannot, however, lead to any concrete compromise of Church teaching and obedient communion with the Holy Father. This is often a most challenging balance to live day by day under a proudly professed atheistic Communist regime.

Recently, two Vatican-approved bishops were kidnapped and forced to attend a Patriotic bishop’s consecration, which was not approved by Rome. On the day before the illicit consecration one bishop, Bishop B, pretended to go jogging, and then just kept running and escaped. When this was discovered, 10 policemen were assigned to guard the other bishop, Bishop D. He attempted to contact the proper Vatican authorities, but in the end was forced to participate in the Patriotic episcopal consecration.

With this degree of division within the ranks of bishops due to the unjustifiable state invention of a parallel church, structured but intrinsically severed from its divinely instituted means of unity in Peter, one can imagine the level of confusion, frustration, and suffering of faith that is experienced by the Catholic clergy and laity. The Heart of Jesus is pierced by this division in his Body, as his beloved Chinese Catholic disciples must daily experience his own broken Body.

Priests, religious, and seminarians also have acute experiences of the Church suffering in China.

In terms of loyalty to Rome and the teaching Magisterium, official or Patriotic priests and seminarians vary widely, some being very loyal to the Government party line and others in total union with Rome and the teaching Magisterium. A missionary religious sister offers a few examples of the complex situation for priests and religious: