THE VATICAN’s “provisional” agreement with China – which aims to foster unity between China’s estimated 12 million Catholics – is dividing opinion among the faithful. Many in the “Underground” Church fear that they will be pressured to forfeit the independence they have asserted – often at great cost – by defying the government’s state-supervised Church and by staying loyal to Rome for more than six decades.
Fr John (full names are being held back to protect those who have spoken out) from the underground community of Mindong Diocese in Fujian province told leading Asian Catholic website UCA News that there is no longer a reason for him to refuse to concelebrate Mass with the formerly illicit bishops now recognised by the Pope, otherwise, he says, “there is no obedience”. But he added that he would never join the government-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.