Bishop selection does not breach religious rights, says China

Restricting the Vatican’s control over the appointment of bishops in China does not infringe on believers’ religious freedom, a Chinese official said Tuesday, amid historic negotiations between Beijing and the Holy See aimed at healing divisions.

Chen Zongrong, an official overseeing religious affairs, said Beijing would not allow “foreign forces” to govern the country’s faith groups.

“The Chinese constitution clearly states that China’s religious groups and religious affairs cannot be controlled by foreign forces, and (the foreign forces) should not interfere in Chinese religious affairs in any way,”

“I disagree with the view that preventing Rome from having full control over the selection of bishops hinders religious freedom,” Chen said.

For years, China’s Catholics have been split between those who follow state-authorised churches outside the Vatican’s authority and those who attend underground churches that swear fealty to the pope.

An expected deal between Beijing and the Holy See has spurred accusations that the Vatican is giving too much away after asserting the need for the Catholic church in China to remain independent of government control over the nearly seven decades since relations were severed.

Like recognition from the Vatican

Under the agreement being discussed, the Vatican is expected to recognise seven Beijing-appointed bishops not chosen by the Pope, while two “underground” bishops would step aside. The Holy See is believed in the past to have objected to some of those unapproved bishops because of their personal conduct or other moral issues.

Guo Xijin, one of the Vatican-ordained bishops who may cede his post, was temporarily removed from his southern Chinese parish last week but returned in time for Easter Sunday services.

Chen denied that Guo was deprived of freedom when government agents put him on a train to Xiamen, a city more than 255 km distant from his Fujian province church, saying he’d been invited there by a local bishop.

Priests and nuns in Guo’s parish said last week that it was customary for authorities to require the bishop to take a forced “vacation” during sensitive periods.

They said he had likely been taken this time to prevent him from speaking to media about the ongoing talks with the Vatican, which have sparked a sharp backlash by some Catholic clergy and supporters of the underground church.