After clinching a historic deal, the Vatican and China are involved in fresh negotiations over the fate of “underground” bishops who remained faithful to the pope for decades despite pressure from Beijing, sources said.
The Vatican hopes that the negotiations following the deal on Saturday last week — seen as paving the way for rapprochement between the Catholic Church and Beijing — will lead China to soften its approach to those who swore allegiance to the pontiff for decades.
A Vatican source and a Chinese priest told reporters that the Holy See could win concessions by the end of the year, although the details of any agreement reached would remain classified.
After a decades-long impasse over who presides over the about 12 million-strong Catholic faithful, last week’s pact saw Pope Francis recognize seven clergy ordained by Beijing.
The clergy were the final seven to gain recognition from Rome after about 70 other members of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (PCA), created by the government to administer the church, were recognized over the past two decades.
Analysts largely described the deal as a win for Beijing.
China has been waging a broad religious crackdown, with “illegal” churches raided or bulldozed and worshippers harassed, and the underground clergy wants safeguards. About 20 percent of its bishops are more than 90 years old.
“China has not changed its position on freedom of religion,” but the goal is to try to “give more space” to Catholic believers, a Vatican source told reporters.
The deal “is not very satisfactory” as it stands, “but it is the only one we could get now” he said, predicting that it would be “revised in the next few years.”
The accord did not include about 40 bishops directly nominated by the Holy See, who belong to China’s underground church and have never been recognized by the Chinese Communist Party.
The Vatican wants Beijing to protect their rights. It has already been assured by China that they would not be forced into the PCA.
“Two or three” of them have won acceptance from Beijing so far, and Francis’ negotiators hope to get the government to recognize another dozen before December, the source said.
The PCA’s statute says that its aim is to create an “independent church” — an expression that would appear to rule out the Vatican’s oversight.
However, the Holy See could accept it if it is reinterpreted to mean political independence.
Under the new deal, Francis is to have the final say on naming bishops.
“Each nomination will have to be debated. Getting final agreement will be complicated. It will be important to have trusted observers in China,” the Vatican source said.
A Chinese priest, who previously worked in an underground church in China and returned to Rome last year, confirmed to reporters that negotiations on the recognition of underground bishops by Beijing were underway.
A final agreement that does not mention or recognize them would be a severe blow, he said.
“For us priests, we will unconditionally accept the agreement, even if in our hearts we feel terrible. But we will follow whatever is finalized,” he said.
Underground bishop Joseph Wei Jingyi (魏景義) in China this week told the Vatican Insider Web site that a failure to win concessions on the matter from Beijing “could provoke a negative reaction... [and] be used against the pope.”
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