Beijing Retains a Tight Grip on the Church

by Caleb SC · July 31, 2017

People are seen at the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing July 14. A Chinese communist party official indicated that Beijing intends to retain tight grip on the Catholic Church. (CNS photo/Damir Sagolj, Reuters)

The Chinese Communist Party’s top leader in charge of religion has made it clear that Beijing intends to retain a tight grip on the Catholic Church.

Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the elite seven-man Politburo Standing Committee and chair of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, told members of the open church community “to ensure that the leadership of the Chinese Catholic Church is held firmly in the hands of those who love the nation and the religion,” reported ucanews.com.

Yu spoke to about 100 bishops, priests, nuns and lay leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing at an event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. He made his comments amid continuing talks between Beijing and the Vatican about the normalisation of the appointment of bishops.

But negotiations appear to have slowed in recent months due to an impasse over the fate of a handful of Beijing-appointed bishops.

During his speech, Yu also encouraged church leaders to “implement with self-awareness the basic direction of religious works,” and “always to insist on the direction of Sinicisation of religion.”

The main event was preceded by a ceremony presided over by Wang Zuoan, director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs. Wang affirmed the results of the patriotic association over the past 60 years. He noted that the organisation has walked the path of adaptation to a socialist society and the principles of independence and self-management.

What is the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association?

The patriotic association was established on Aug 2, 1957, by the National Congress of Catholic Representatives, which also stands above the bishops’ conference, an organisation that also answers to Beijing, not the Vatican. The government claimed the patriotic association is a “bridge” between the church and the government.

The Vatican does not recognise all three national church bodies and regards the patriotic association as being incompatible with church doctrine. This is because its constitution advocates the principle of an independent church.

The establishment of the patriotic association also split China’s 10 million Catholics. Following the Vatican’s stance, the so-called underground church community rejected the organisation, and many clergy and lay people suffered for this. Ucanews.com reported many lay people despise the patriotic association for its control of the church and alleged misuse of church property.

But the division is far from black and white: Many clergy in the so-called open church community show resistance to the patriotic association but believe collaboration offers space for church development. In the ceremony, some Vatican-approved bishops did not wear their bishops’ garb, as a subtle way to show that the meeting was not a church event. By Catholic News Service