CNA Newsroom, Oct 19, 2024 / 11:05 am (CNA).
Two prominent Catholics — Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong and American author George Weigel — have leveled sharp criticisms at the Synod on Synodality, focusing particularly on the Vatican’s approach to China.
In a blog post published on Oct. 18, Cardinal Zen, the 92-year-old bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, issued an urgent appeal for prayer as the synod enters its third week.
“We must pray for the successful (decent) ending of this Synod,” Zen wrote, outlining three fundamental concerns.
The cardinal questioned the gathering’s legitimacy as a Synod of Bishops, given the inclusion of non-bishop voting members.
“With the ‘non-bishops’ voting together, it is no longer a Synod of Bishops,” Zen argued.
About the controversial declaration Fiducia Supplicans and LGBTQ issues, Zen wrote, “I think endless debate should be avoided at least on the issue of blessing same-sex couples“ and urged synod delegates: “If this issue is not resolved in the synod, the future of the Church will be very unclear, because some clergy and friends of the pope insist on changing the Church tradition in this regard.“
The Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong also warned against granting individual bishops’ conferences independent authority over doctrinal matters. “If this idea succeeds, we will no longer be the Catholic Church,” Zen cautioned.
This is not the first time the cardinal has voiced concerns about the synod.
In a critique published on Feb. 15, he argued that the synod presents “two opposing visions” of the Church’s nature and organization.
Meanwhile, George Weigel, a distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Oct. 17, criticizing the presence of two Chinese bishops at the synod.
Weigel argued that Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu of Funing/Mindong and Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang of Hangzhou are “bent on ‘Sinicizing’ the Catholic Church.”
The biographer of Pope St. John Paul II also pointed out that Bishop Zhan Silu was previously excommunicated for accepting consecration without papal approval. Weigel noted that Bishop Yang Yongqiang is vice president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which Weigel describes as “a tool of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.”
Controversial deal expected to be renewed
The synod takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing debate over the diplomatic relationship between the Holy See and Beijing, particularly the Sino-Vatican on bishop appointments.
The provisional agreement was first signed in 2018 and renewed in 2020 and 2022 and is likely due for another renewal this October.
As of this report, the Vatican has not yet announced whether the agreement has been extended, though observers widely expect it to be renewed.
While critics have raised serious concerns over the Vatican’s diplomatic approach to Beijing and the Chinese policy of sinicization, the Holy See has publicly doubled down on the diplomatic strategy of supporting Beijing.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin has praised Chinese president Xi Jinping’s campaign of “sinicization” of religion and culture in the country, saying it relates to the Catholic concept of inculturation “without confusion and without opposition.”
George Weigel strongly rejected this interpretation in a commentary for the National Catholic Register.
More recently, Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of Vatican News, wrote on Oct. 17 that the Chinese bishops at the synod emphasized their communion with the universal Church.
Tornielli quoted Bishop Yang as saying, “The Church in China is the same as the Catholic Church in other countries of the world: we belong to the same faith, share the same baptism, and we are all faithful to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”
The Vatican News director also reported Bishop Yang stating, “We follow the evangelical spirit of ‘becoming all things to all people.’ We effectively adapt to society, serve it, adhere to the direction of the sinicization of Catholicism, and preach the Good News.”
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“We follow the evangelical spirit of ‘becoming all things to all people.’ We effectively adapt to society, serve it, adhere to the direction of the sinicization of Catholicism, and preach the Good News” (Bishop Yang). Sounds fine, if it were not for the replacement of Christ with Xi Jinping written on Church placards, the incorporation of Marxist ideology replacing sections of the Gospels. Bishop Yang probably thinks Yang is interchangeable with Yin. As His Holiness said when in Japan they just think differently out yonder.
The Vatican II train wreckage keeps piling up. Aggiornamento – the Freemasonic call from Pope Roncali to update the Church – is to blame for each carriage that smashes into the next. The carnage will continue until Rome publishes the Gagnon Report*, admits to Freemasonic infiltration, and the abrogation of Vatican II and Post-Conciliarism is announced.
Tragically, there are plenty more carriages to go. The war on Tradition will extend to All Tradition, until there is nothing left. Committed Post-Conciliar catholics will gradually wake up.
* Fr Charles Murr, ‘Murder in the 33rd Degree”
My fellow catholics, please take note….the Bishops from China did say “The Church in China is the same as the Catholic Church in other countries of the world: we belong to the same faith, share the same baptism, and we are all faithful to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”…..But they never never, never said they sworn obedience to our Pope, the Chair of Saint Peter……the Vicar of Christ……
Fr. Peter, could you please give us specifics on the incorporation of Marxist ideology replacing sections of the Gospels.
I also have heard that this is taking place and would like confirmation of it, if possible. And if it is true, as has been reported, how could the Vatican possibly renew this deal without betraying the Gospel?
Also wish the the Vatican would be forced to disclose any payments made by China to it in connection with this deal.
“Synod, Zen and sinicization: Vatican’s China deal sparks tensions” – just as anyone with the smallest amount of common sense would have been able to predict. I suspect that one who is an authoritarian personality type is incapable of seeing the dangers lurking in totalitarianism. I hate to say “We told you so” but we told you so.
In the article by George Weigel, he states that the accord of Cardinal Parolin (and I add Pontiff Francis and their agent Theodore McCarrick) is “perverse.”
It is good that he comes right out and states that, because it is perverted.
People like myself who lived in the AD of Washington DC under McCarrick may recall the diocesan news accounts of McCarrick’s repeated trips to China while Archbishop of DC. The diocesan news reported on these trips with a sense that the faithful should be encouraged that McCarrick was (somehow) a mover and shaker on the world stage, and of course it was always left unsaid what business it was for the Archbishop of Washington DC to be spending his time repeatedly traveling to China. And as we now know, McCarrick also “had work to do that required traveling to China” as Archbishop of Newark and before that as Bishop of Metuchen, NJ.
It’s all part of “the sacred mysteries” of the Vatican Secretariat of State, which before Pope Paul VI the Catholic Church considered a secondary bureaucracy in the Church, in ages “un-modern,” when the Vatican’s organization was aligned with its priorities, and the Congregation for the Faith was for centuries the foremost Congregation.
Some years ago, somewhere (I can’t remember where) in the Catholic blogosphere, a commenter noted, in a discussion about The Vatican’s Secret Accord with The Communist Party of China, that they were years before present at a talk at the Catholic Information Center in DC, where then-Cardinal McCarrick was invited to give a talk, right before his “retirement” from DC, and he shocked the audience by going off topic and announcing “it was time” for the Catholic Church to formally recognize the Patriotic Catholic Church in China, and cease favoring the underground Church (represented by Cardinal Zen and other faithful Bishops).
Perverse and perverted, as we all now know.
Cardinal Zen has publicly stated that Cardinal Parolin, who is still considered a viable candidate for Pontiff, is a corrupt man.
It’s fair to say that the 50 year “Pauline reorganization” of the Vatican “has born its essential fruit,” which is: “to pervert the Catholic Church.”
Perhaps our Catholic “leadership” should consider this option after the Pontiff Francis finishes his time in service: if our Church exists to serve the truth and profess the Faith, then let its organization reflect that priority, get rid of the “Pauline-Francis” Vatican organizational priorities, cease the subordinating the Faith in favor of politics, restore the primacy of The Congregation for the Faith, and subordinate the Secretariat of State to its secondary status, where it belongs.
The future does not look much better: the Pope will have 21 new Cardinals promoted by him. He is consolidating his legacy preparing the election of one like him or worse.
What are the chances of the lavender mafia reforming the lavender mafia?
Synodal Superlodge project – the democratisation of the divinely founded hierarchical Institution – is launched. External pressure will ensure it continues, so that post-conciliar Ecumenical New Church can be definitively subsumed into the NWO system.
This is the final phase of the anti-Catholic war on All Tradition waged from within?