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Catholic World News News Feature

China preparing reaction against Pope's message? June 28, 2007

Chinese officials have summoned Catholic bishops to a meeting in Huariou, north of Beijing, to coordinate their response to a forthcoming message from Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of China, the AsiaNews service reports.

In January, at the conclusion of a special 2-day meeting on the situation facing the Church in China, Vatican officials announced that the Pope would be writing to the faithful in that country. The publication of that letter is now imminent, and Beijing authorities are preparing their reaction.

AsiaNews fears that bishops of the "official" Catholic Church-- the bishops recognized by the Beijing government-- will be under heavy pressure to demonstrate their independence from the Holy See when the Pope's letter is made public.

The papal message, which is believed to be about 30 pages long, was originally expected earlier this year. Informed sources report that the document is complete, and was signed by the Holy Father on Pentecost Sunday. The publication of the letter has been delayed in part because Vatican officials are taken extreme care with the translation, to avoid confusion or misinterpretation, sources say.

The ADNkronos news agency reports that the letter could be published on June 30. That date has not been confirmed by the Vatican. Other reports-- also unconfirmed-- have indicated that the Vatican would give Chinese officials an opportunity to see the document before its official release.

The papal message will reportedly trace the recent history of Catholicism in China, noting the years of persecution and the development of the "underground" Church loyal to Rome. While recognizing the tensions between the "official" and "underground" Catholic communities today, the Pope's letter will stress the essential unity of the Chinese Church.

Vatican officials have regularly rejected the notion that there are two competing Catholic communities in China and protested efforts by the government-sponsored Catholic Patriotic Association to separate local Catholic bishops from Rome. In practice, Vatican officials say, most of the bishops of the "official" Church in China have sought and received recognition from the Vatican.

However, the Patriotic Association has continued to press for independence and has staged ordination ceremonies in which new bishops are consecrated for the "official" Church without Vatican approval. The Holy See has vigorously protested these illicit ceremonies. They have accused Chinese officials of pressuring Catholic prelates to take part in the ordinations-- pressure that the Vatican characterizes as an open assault on religious liberty.

In a report on the government-sponsored meeting in Huariou, AsiaNews says that the United Front-- a government agency dealing with religious affairs-- is planning a response to the Pope's message. AsiaNews voices concerns that leaders of the "official" Church will be called upon to distance themselves from the Pope.

The AsiaNews story recalls a similar effort to create divisions between China and Rome, in October 2000, when Pope John Paul II canonized a group of Chinese martyrs over protests from Beijing. At that time, AsiaNews recalls, Chinese officials "began underground bishops, forcing the official bishops to sign a document critical of the Pope and the canonizations, obliging them to read the document in all churches and make public declarations on TV and in the press against the Pope."