Beijing's decision to ordain two bishops without papal consent shows that maintaining control over the Catholic Church in China is more important than restoring ties with the Vatican, analysts say.
The consecrations of priests Ma Yinglin (
China's officially atheist Communist Party rulers have long insisted on two conditions for resuming relations -- that the Vatican end diplomatic ties with Taiwan, its arch-rival, and does not interfere in its internal affairs.
Talks had appeared to gain momentum before this week's ordinations. Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen (
Richard Madsen, a China-Vatican relations expert at the University of California, San Diego, also pointed to the compromise reached between the Holy See and Beijing on the appointment of three bishops last year.
"The bishops appointed last year, including, very significantly, the bishop for Shanghai, were done with Vatican approval. These involve delicate informal discussions," Madsen said. "The fact that agreement could be reached, especially about the bishop for Shanghai, was a good sign that it would be possible for Beijing and the Vatican to reach a formal accommodation."
"If Beijing wanted to keep the negotiations moving forward, it wouldn't have now appointed bishops who are blatantly unacceptable to the Vatican. ... It is unclear to me that Beijing wants negotiations to go forward at this time," he said.
The biggest hurdle is Beijing's wish to retain authority over China's Roman Catholics and essentially over all religion in the country, China expert Dorian Malovic wrote in his book The Yellow Pope.
"The main issue for Beijing is to be able to build a new religious policy for the whole country, especially for the Catholics," Malovic wrote. "The establishment of diplomatic relations with the Vatican would automatically involve very deep reform of the role of the political structure that has been in place to control religion."
A majority of 79 bishops appointed by China are already indirectly recognized by the Vatican anyway, Malovic and other analysts said.
So the real issue is not how bishops are selected but who controls the Church, they said.
Some experts said the recent appointments could be an attempt by China's government-appointed agency in charge of Catholic affairs -- the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association -- to retain its power.
"I do not think it is correct to speak about Beijing here," said Benoit Vermander, a China-Vatican expert at the Ricci Institute in Taiwan. "Rather, we should speak about the Catholic Patriotic Association, which has its own agenda, namely defending its administrative position and its privileges within the regime. It is responsible for the appointment of bishops."
However, Beatrice Leung (梁潔芬), an expert at Taiwan's Wenzao Ursuline College, disagreed.
"If it's just Ma, then it could be a small move by the Patriotic Association, but it happened a second time, so the central authority must know," she said.
Liu Bainian (
"There are still 44 dioceses in mainland China without bishops. We can't wait until the end of negotiations to appoint bishops. It could take years," he said.
Liu refused to say whether any more bishops would be appointed without the Vatican's consent in the near future.
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