From BBC News:
Zhan Silu is being elevated to become bishop of Mindong Diocese in eastern Fujian province on Sunday without the approval of the Holy See.
In the past fortnight Beijing has appointed two other unapproved bishops, sparking strong Papal criticism.
China has both a state-run Catholic association and an underground church loyal to the Vatican.
The recent appointments have cast a shadow on moves to re-establish diplomatic relations that were severed more than 50 years ago.
You can also read Boston Globe, Miami Herald, Washington Post :
Zhan Silu, also called Vincent Zhan, will become bishop of Mindong Diocese in eastern Fujian province, and he — like two other bishops appointed in China in past weeks — apparently lacks the Holy See’s approval, which bishops even in China’s state-controlled church have regularly sought in recent years.
“I did write to the Vatican to ask for recognition, but I’ve never heard anything back,” Zhan said on Friday. “For me, Vatican approval is important, but I also have to consider local needs.”
Maryland Conservatarian has a comment on this issue:
Catholicism isn’t some franchise license that China can claim ownership of. Ask Henry VIII. The Chinese government can call Zhan a bishop – hell they can call him the Chinese Pope if they’d like. But even saying it a hundred times wouldn’t make it so. This man is NOT a Catholic Bishop unless and until the Pope says he is. In the future, Reuters would do well to assign a reporter that has at least a working knowledge of the Roman Catholic Church…or in the alternative, perhaps has a Catholic friend he can inquire of.
In Spanish Civitas Dei.
Also in Catholic News Agency, who writes about the ordination of another bishop:
The ordination of a new auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Shenyang came three days after Pope Benedict XVI sharply rebuked China for consecrating two bishops in the past eight days without Vatican approval.
China responded over the weekend by describing the Pope’s criticism as “unfounded” and defending the ordinations as within the bounds of the government, reported the Times.
While Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement that the Chinese government “is always sincere and has made unremitting efforts in improving its ties with the Vatican,” others in the Church believe the actions are a huge step backward in reconciliation between China and the Vatican. Diplomatic ties were broken 55 years ago.
While Pope Benedict has made normalization of relations a priority, the issue of appointing bishops has become a major stumbling block.
Anyway, what are we going to say of a country in which the women are made to abort and sell their foetus for 2$ to make cosmetics (link in Italian), or who torture this way the dissidents in the concentration camps (link here) who have hearts, kidneys, and corneas removed when they are still alive. And then they have been granted a seat in the Human Rights Commission… (with Cuba and Saudi Arabia)
HT: Free Thoughts.
UPDATE: Rhymes with Right comments on this issue. Go and read the comments.
UPDATE 2: Libero Pensiero (in Italian) also has commented on this issue.
When we finally understand that terrorism and totalitarism are two enemies without any kind of excuse, it will be a great step in the path to reach a minimum respect for life. Find excuses to these ideologies serves to nothing but to their culture of death.
Tags: Catholic Church, China, concentration camps, dissidents, Human Rights, religious freedom, religious persecution
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