Jimmy Lai’s godfather discusses trial: ‘He’s a real champion of freedom’

Manila, Philippines, Apr 7, 2018 / 09:41 pm (CNA).- A relic of St. Pope John Paul II was recently gifted to the Archdiocese of Manila by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisw, the former secretary of the belated pope.

The relic – a vial of the saint’… […]

Beijing, China, Mar 29, 2018 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Ever since President Nixon famously “opened” China to the West, the country’s rise as an economic and political superpower has been a thorny nettle to grasp. The conventional wisdom has been that, while there are grave and pervasive issues in China relating to political freedom and human rights, these will be gradually eroded by a developing economy and growing middle class –  a process best hastened by open trade and engagement with Western nations.

The hope of many policy makers, be it realistic or fanciful, is that China will slowly, eventually, change from within. But as leaders of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Umbrella Movement can attest, many of them fresh from jail, if the change is coming, it isn’t yet in view.

Indeed, as President Xi relaxes into his new role of President-for-Life, things appear to be moving backwards, rather than forwards. Political and religious arrests, forced sterilizations, human organ trafficking – these are not the stuff of Orwellian nightmares, but part of any serious discussion of the situation in China. Just this week President Xi rolled out the red carpet for the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un; a man reported to have executed musicians with anti-aircraft guns, and abducted schoolgirls for sex slaves.

In the Machiavellian world of realpolitik, in which China’s status as an economic and military superpower make it too big to be ignored, governments may find that the unpalatable task of doing business with China is unavoidable. But it need not be so for the Church. The Church has no trade deficit with China, no sovereign territory to defend in the South China Sea, no national debt held by the Chinese government. The Holy See, through its status as a sovereign entity in international law, is in a unique position – it has the diplomatic clout to make its voice heard, without the entanglements of a major nation state. With this in mind, what are Catholics to make of the deal being brokered between China and the Vatican?

Since the New Year, there have been numerous reports of a concordat in the making between the Chinese government and the Holy See. The apparent substance of the deal is to hand the Chinese government considerable power over episcopal appointments in exchange for bringing the underground Church above ground, ending the split with the state-sanctioned Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.  Public criticism has been fierce from respected figures like Cardinal Zen, a hero of the Chinese underground Church, who called the proposed deal an “act of suicide” by the Church and a “shameless surrender.”

In response, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, has said “sacrifices” need to be made, and that the plan is not “a political exchange, but falls within the evangelical perspective of a greater good, the good of the Church of Christ.” Parolin’s hope is that “we won’t have to speak of ‘legitimate’ and ‘illegitimate’ bishops, ‘clandestine’ and ‘official’ bishops in the church in China, but about meeting among brothers and sisters, learning the language of collaboration and communion again.”

If the Vatican’s strategic aim is that a unified Church in China will provide an opportunity for a more public and influential Catholic voice in Chinese society, the signs are not encouraging. As CNA has reported recently, news of President Xi’s lifetime term came with a reordering of government business, with one change being the placement of the state-approved Church under the direct supervision of the explicitly atheist Chinese Communist Party. Yesterday, Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin, of the underground Church in China, was detained by state authorities. He was apparently taken in by the police for refusing to concelebrate Mass with an illicitly consecrated, state-backed bishop. He has since been released, but forbidden from celebrating the Chrism Mass.

As one of the underground bishops apparently earmarked by the Vatican to give way to a state-anointed replacement, the government’s treatment of Bishop Guo gives a foretaste of the sort of “government first, Catholic second” enforcement a united Church in China can expect. Indeed, the publicity around the Vatican’s pressure upon Bishop Guo to step aside in hopes of a future deal may have served to embolden Chinese authorities to act. The de facto delegitimization of faithful bishops in China by the Vatican’s political maneuvering may have practical, as well as spiritual, consequences for the faithful in China.

Also today, reports have emerged that the Vatican-China deal may have broader diplomatic implications. It has been suggested that any deal on bishops may come with pressure on the Vatican to break off diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, the democratic nation better known as Taiwan. The Chinese government insist that Taiwan is a rebel province, and place heavy pressure on countries not recognize the island as a sovereign state. The Holy See has recognized the Republic of China since 1942, and remains among the most prominent sovereign entities to do so.

A Vatican rethink on Taiwan may well be expected – doing business with China often comes with the condition of adopting the “One China Policy,” and rejecting Taiwanese claims to sovereignty. If the Vatican could be persuaded to abandon its support, it would end of one of the Holy See’s most high-profile principled diplomatic stands of the modern era.

Of course, the actual text of any agreement has not been signed, or disclosed for public discussion. Until the actual details of any such deal are known, it is impossible to say with certitude what is good or bad about it. What can be said, indeed what seems obvious, is that there not yet a clear upside to the possible deal with Beijing.

For all the Vatican’s efforts to cement a deal with China, there is no clear prize at the end of the road. Every new report suggests that, by accepting Communist nomination of episcopal appointees, the Church will cede considerable practical authority over the Church in China. Worse, as the arrest of Bishop Guo and the threat to Vatican-Taiwan relations show, the moral authority of the Church is being materially sacrificed. Yet nothing appears to be on offer in return, beyond the nebulous hope that a unified Church, under Communisty party oversight, could open new possibilities – which seems unlikely, as long as police can arrest any bishop who is too Catholic for Beijing.  

Supporters of the deal say that it will diminish persecution of faithful Catholics in China. But Xi’s call for the “Sinicization” of all religions in China might mean the opposite- that Beijing will pressure bishops to downplay some aspects of Church teaching, and that faithful clerics and laity could be hung out to dry. Those willing to toe Beijing’s line might be safe, for now, but those who hold fast to faith might have little place to turn if they openly evangelize, speak out too boldly in favor of human rights, or refuse to contracept.

The Holy See exists, at the diplomatic level, to be an outspoken champion for human dignity and religious freedom. Its unique status is supposed to insulate it from the worldly concerns and pressures which tie the hands of governments. Yet in its dealings with China, the Vatican is risking the unique moral authority its effectiveness rests upon. Without that, the Church becomes just another NGO doing what it can – a witness to human limitations, not divine truth.

Ed Condon is a canon lawyer working for tribunals in a number of dioceses. On Twitter he is @canonlawyered. The opinions experessed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Catholic News Agency.

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Flag of the People’s Republic of China. / Credit: Yan Ke / Unsplash (CC0)

CNA Staff, Nov 9, 2023 / 16:12 pm (CNA).

China passed a “Patriotic Education Law,” further consolidating the Chinese Communist Party’s control over education, including religious education, state-controlled media outlet Xinhua announced last month.

The new law, which was passed during a session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, would require churches and religious groups to adapt their educational activities to promote the party’s official ideology.

“The state is to guide and support religious groups, religious institutes, and religious activity sites in carrying out patriotic education activities, enhancing religious professionals’ and believers’ identification with the great motherland, the Chinese people, Chinese culture, the Chinese Communist Party, and socialism with Chinese characteristics,” the new law reads.

The law goes on to say that “all levels and types of school shall have patriotic education permeate the entire course of school education” and that even “the parents or other guardians of minors shall include love of the motherland in family education.”

Patriotic education has been an imperative of the CCP since the Maoist Revolution to inculcate the party’s official ideology. It has been reimagined during periods of social upheaval, namely during the Cultural Revolution and in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. 

Xi Jinping has put his twist on patriotic education, underpinning it with the ideological doctrine of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese people.” This mantra is in part centered on the revival of Chinese culture, but it is also predicated on “upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

This phrase, which was first introduced under Deng Xiaoping, has since been redefined in the Xi Jinping era and was even enshrined in the constitution at the 19th National Congress of the CPC in 2017 as “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.” 

This ideological refrain, which is immortalized in the general program of the CCP’s constitution, is repeated in article 6 of the Patriotic Education Law and forms the basis for the patriotic curriculum. 

The law also calls for broader political instruction on the “history of the Communist Party, new China, reform and opening, the development of socialism, and the development of the Chinese people.”

Included in Jinping’s “Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” is the program of bringing religious groups and beliefs in line with the party through the process of sinicization. 

“We will fully implement the party’s basic policy on religious affairs, uphold the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation, and provide active guidance to religions so that they can adapt themselves to socialist society,” Jinping said.

In 2017, the CCP released updated Religious Affairs Regulations. This 77-article legislation prescribed that religion must “adhere to the principle of independence and self-governance” to maintain “social harmony.” It also mandated that religious education and sites of worship must be officially approved by and registered with the government. 

In 2021, Measures on the Management of Religious Clergy was passed, making it compulsory for clergy to register with a government database and reinforcing that clergy must adhere to the program of sinicization. 

One novelty of the Patriotic Education Law is that it is an additional tool for the CCP to extend its foothold beyond the geographic confines of the mainland to “the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan.”

Following the passage of the Patriotic Education Law, Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee announced: “The HKSAR government will fully facilitate the relevant work to coordinate within the government and also the patriotic forces of different sectors in making persistent efforts to promote patriotic education and … [to] understand the close relationship between mainland and Hong Kong.” 

After the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, the Basic Law went into effect promoting the notion of the “one country, two systems.” 

While the Basic Law allows for religious education, there are growing concerns in Hong Kong over the expansion of the CCP’s influence in the ostensibly autonomous region, especially as it relates to Catholic education. 

The Diocese of Hong Kong is the largest provider of education in the territory. According to 2022 diocesean figures, there are a total of 249 schools in Hong Kong with a total enrollment of 136,804 students, of which only 14,888, or 10.88%, are Catholic.

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