Church in the World

China to halt illicit ordinations

China

The Chinese Government is to stop the illegitimate ordination of Catholic bishops, in the interests of encouraging further dialogue with the Vatican, according to an auxiliary bishop of Hong Kong. Speaking at a church seminar in South Korea last week, Bishop John Tong Hon said that the Chinese Government has called a halt to episcopal ordinations, such as those held earlier this year, where the Catholic Patriotic Association nominated new bishops without the approval of the Holy See.

The immediate public response from the Vatican - which condemned the ordinations as a "serious attack on religious freedom" - convinced Chinese officials that the ordinations were damaging prospects for diplomatic relations with Rome. Bishop Tong mentioned that international media coverage too had prompted them to reconsider their confrontational stance.

Discreet talks between Chinese officials and a visiting Vatican delegation, which arrived in Beijing during late June, produced no concrete results, the bishop revealed. However, the willingness of both sides to engage in direct negotiations has been regarded as a major advance.  Two senior Vatican officials extended their stay by a day in order to meet top Chinese officials, including the director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, Ye Xiaowen.

Bishop Tong felt the process to normalise Holy See-China relations would proceed slowly due to the Chinese Government's concern about the Catholic Church's power, as well as the role of Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong in garnering international support for religious freedom on the mainland. "In that sense, we should not expect much in the near future, but that day will come," Bishop Tong said. He noted that Catholics in China, from both "open" and "underground" communities, total about 13 million - 1 per cent of mainland China's 1.3 billion people.