{"id":202920,"date":"2017-10-07T22:01:38","date_gmt":"2017-10-08T05:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=202920"},"modified":"2021-09-14T20:24:23","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T03:24:23","slug":"pope-francis-not-understand-ccp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2017\/10\/pope-francis-not-understand-ccp\/","title":{"rendered":"“Pope Francis Does Not Understand the CCP”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chinese government’s\u00a0unauthorized appointment of\u00a0Catholic bishops<\/a>\u00a0has\u00a0been a major point of contention between Beijing and the Vatican. To reconnect with Catholics in the country, Pope Francis has made repeated efforts to improve relations with China<\/a>\u00a0since his inauguration in 2013. The recent thaw in relations between the two, with prospects of normalizing diplomatic ties, has raised concern among some Chinese clergy that Rome will give Beijing say over\u00a0the ordination of the country’s bishops. Cardinal Joseph Zen, the 84-year-old former bishop of Hong Kong, has criticized the Vatican for compromising with the Chinese government, saying that the Pope lacks understanding of the Communist Party<\/strong><\/a>. Kris Cheng at Hong Kong Free Press reports:<\/p>\n

[…] Last month, Zen mentioned in his blog a potential agreement between the Vatican and Beijing whereby the atheist country will have the final say in the appointment of priests. He said that \u201cno deal is better than a bad deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a visit to Canada and the US, Zen, 85, criticised the optimistic attitude that he observed among top Vatican officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese government has not made any concessions in the negotiations,\u201d he told the Chinese-language\u00a0World Journal\u00a0in New York. \u201cThere are some things that we cannot make compromises.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told the newspaper that Pope Francis was from South America and was sympathetic to communists: \u201cHe does not understand the\u00a0Chinese Communist Party at all.\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While some observers believe the rapprochement between the\u00a0Vatican\u00a0and Beijing could potentially upset the Holy See’s relation with Taiwan, the Catholic Church has affirmed that it will continue to\u00a0retain formal diplomatic ties with Taipei<\/strong><\/a>. Lawrence Chung at South China Morning Post reports:<\/p>\n

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Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican\u2019s Secretary for Relations with States, declared on Thursday in a reception hosted by Matthew Lee Shih-ming, Taiwan\u2019s ambassador to the Holy See, that the Vatican would continue to honour its relations with Taiwan.<\/p>\n

He was quoted by Taiwan\u2019s semi-official Central News Agency as telling Lee that he could \u201cguarantee that the Vatican would continue as a committed partner\u201d of Taipei, and that he supported any constructive dialogue between the two parties to improve and enhance their exchanges.<\/p>\n

Gallagher said since Chiang Kai-shek\u2019s government and the Vatican established official ties in 1942, there have been many changes in the world, but the friendship and cooperation between the two have never changed. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

China suspended all diplomatic communications with Taiwan<\/a>\u00a0last summer after President\u00a0Tsai Ing-wen refused to fully recognize\u00a0the \u201cone China\u201d principle.<\/p>\n

In response to this growth of Catholicism and other branches of Christianity in recent years, the Chinese government has launched an extensive clampdown. Officials in Zhejiang, for instance, have\u00a0removed thousands of crosses<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0demolished several churches<\/a>\u00a0in an\u00a0attempt to halt the spread of Christianity<\/a>. Several Christian lawyers and activists were\u00a0detained<\/a>\u00a0and subsequently\u00a0released<\/a>\u00a0for campaigning against cross removals. At a high-level meeting last year, President\u00a0Xi Jinping warned government officials to guard against religious extremism and foreign infiltration through religion<\/a>. This followed calls to promote the development of a uniquely Chinese Christian theology\u00a0that is compatible with Chinese socialism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chinese government’s\u00a0unauthorized appointment of\u00a0Catholic bishops\u00a0has\u00a0been a major point of contention between Beijing and the Vatican. To reconnect with Catholics in the country, Pope Francis has made repeated efforts to improve relations with China\u00a0since his inauguration in 2013. The recent thaw in relations between the two, with prospects of normalizing diplomatic ties, has raised concern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1088,"featured_media":139961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116,14744,14745,14746,5,112],"tags":[1129,5905,1130,16006,79,78,17005,7697],"class_list":["post-202920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-society","category-taiwan","tag-catholic-church","tag-christianity","tag-pope","tag-pope-francis-i","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom","tag-taiwan","tag-taiwan-relations","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n"Pope Francis Does Not Understand the CCP"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2017\/10\/pope-francis-not-understand-ccp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Pope Francis Does Not Understand the CCP"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chinese government’s\u00a0unauthorized appointment of\u00a0Catholic bishops\u00a0has\u00a0been a major point of contention between Beijing and the Vatican. 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