China’s Catholic Church has grown to 12 million. In 2007, Benedict said that “during the last fifty years, the Church in China has never lacked an abundant flowering of vocations to the priesthood and to consecrated life” and “has seen a large number of adults coming to the faith.” Since then, the ground has shifted. Shen, of the Bishops Council, asserts that a drop in priestly vocations is being “felt significantly in China.” The church will struggle to survive as clergy are encouraged by the Vatican and pressured by the CCP to leave the underground for party-controlled churches that foster mutual suspicion and, instead of Christian truths, preach “Xi Thought.” Few among today’s younger Chinese, forbidden any exposure to religion as part of the repressive Sinicization program, can be expected even to consider the priesthood.
Go here to read the rest. It is an embarrassment of offal when choosing among all the terrible thing Pope Francis has done, but the betrayal of Chinese Catholics stands front and center for PopeWatch.
Yes 😢
From the Washington Examiner, September 4th 2023.
Pope Francis; “I think that we need to advance further into the religious aspect to understand each other more,” the pope said. “The Chinese must not think that the Church does not accept their culture and their values and that the Church is dependent on a foreign power.”
The cost of acceptance of the values of communist China is distortions of Catholicism based on the deal. That now the CCP is an agent of selecting future Bishops. WoW.
A sell out. (?)
A cop out. (?)
A reversal of our beliefs that Christ is King..now and forever. Maybe King Henry the VIII had it right after all. He makes the church.
Communism. I thought that they didn’t believe in God. (?)
Where are Crucifix’s, Station of the Cross plaques, Statues of Our Saints going to be stored…or will they be destroyed?
And the tabernacles?
The consecrated hosts?
And the WORD of God?
Saint Pope John Paul II, pray for us and especially our brothers and sisters in China.
In principle I suppose it’s fine, diplomatically speaking, to abstain from harsh criticism of brutal regimes in the name of “ostpolitik”; in order to alleviate persecution. Unfortunately, it presents a distorted world view when no such restraint is exercised with regards to policies of Western powers. Railing about immigration or climate and fossil fuel practices in the West for example, while being stonily silent about grave human rights abuses in China makes it appear to many that Catholic social teaching is less about principle than pragmatics.
Btw, call me crazy(yes go ahead!) but I’m hoping that somehow Vatican policy with China may yet provide spiritual dividends, at least in the distant future. China has throughout its history been hostile towards the Christian faith, and was so long before the CCP came to power. Maybe this is but a “foot in the door” that one day will bring about a great conversion of souls in that land? We can always hope. And pray. I say that being fully mindful of the great suffering the faithful are undergoing there today. May God deliver them from evil.
At Faithful.
I pray that your right.
Last years incarceration of Cardinal Zen and five others leads me to believe that the underground church will be suffering the Passion of Christ until they give up their beliefs or are locked up….or worse.
From last year;
Hong Kong Court Convicts Cardinal Zen And Five Others : NPR. Hong Kong Court Convicts Cardinal Zen And Five Others A 90-year-old Roman Catholic cardinal and five others were fined after being found guilty of failing to register a fund that aimed to help people arrested in widespread protests three years ago.Nov 25, 2022.
It used to be that the Church’s diplomatic service and its policies were quite respected and professional. It was regarded as quite skillful at navigating the complexities of international relations while maintaining the integrity and principles of its mission. Sadly, this is no longer the case and the whole world is the worse for it.
I take a different view.
The Chinese people themselves are to blame for the indifference to those 12million who identify as Catholic in China. I have personally only meet a handful of Chinese Catholics- one a convert. In my neck of the woods where the Chinese immigration levels are high, I have found through my interactions with Chinese people is that they only care about one thing- $$$. And getting their children to compete and be the smartest. At the expense of teaching their children basic manners and common social skills which fit into Western Society.
How many Chinese Catholics have immigrated abroad and opened Catholic Churches? In my neck of the woods I have yet to see one.
Chinese immigration has deteriorated our Western Culture. And it’s happened rapidly. Mao has trained them well to operate like robots. So although I have sympathy for Cardinal Zen and his supporters, sorry, but I don’t think the majority of Chinese people care or wish to care about the Church. I’d rather focus my sympathy on the suffering Christian’s in the Middle East who care and are fighting to keep the Faith and it’s Churches preserved.
FWIW Old St Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco, the only building to survive the S. F. earthquake, is now surrounded by Chinatown. Not sure when that occurred. St. Marys does have a Chinese Mission. In the Blessed Sacrament chapel the Holy Family is depicted as Mandarin Chinese, the tabernacle is atop a Chinese carved table.
Masses on Sunday are celebrated in English and Chinese. On holidays there may be a Mass that is bi-lingual. I recall a concert of sacred music composed by French missionaries at the emperors court. Antique instruments were used.