The Vatican on Monday sent an apparent warning to
Catholics in China who are loyal to the pope not to take things
into their own hands if they oppose a rapprochement between the
communist government and the Holy See.
In a highly unusual statement, the Vatican referred to reports
about unauthorised ordinations of bishops in the "unofficial
Catholic community", a reference to Catholics who owe allegiance
only to the pope.
Catholics in China are divided between that group, which is also
known as the "underground Church", and the official Church,
approved by Beijing’s communist government.
"The Holy See has not authorised any ordination, nor has it been
officially informed of such events. Should such episcopal
ordinations have occurred, they would constitute a grave violation
of canonical norms," the statement said.
The statement came amid growing expectation that the Vatican and
the Chinese government are close to an agreement on the ordination
of bishops, the stickiest point in talks between the two sides.
But media reports about the impending deal have sparked strong
criticism from some Catholics in China and around the world who
believe it would be an offence to Catholic bishops, priests and lay
people who have suffered persecution for refusing to join the
official, state Church.
According to AsiaNews, a Rome-based Catholic news agency that
specialises in China, the statement was prompted at least in part
by the action of Father Dong Guanhua, a priest in the underground
Church who ordained himself a bishop without a papal mandate.
Dong has threatened to ordain more priests as bishops, which
could effectively spark a schism in the Chinese Catholic Church
that recognises the pope and disrupt the talks between Beijing and
the Vatican.
The statement was unusual in that in the past the Vatican has
often condemned the official, government-backed Church for
ordaining bishops without papal permission but had never before
issued a similar warning to the faction loyal to the pope.
"We wanted to send a signal to our own in order to show that the
rules apply to both sides," a senior Vatican bishop said, speaking
on the condition of anonymity.
In what appeared to be a reference to Catholics opposed to any
deal with the government, the Vatican statement said the ordination
of bishops needed papal permission and could not be based on
"particular personal beliefs".
For more than six decades, China’s ruling Communist Party has
strongly opposed the Vatican’s right to ordain Chinese bishops, in
a bitter contest for authority over as many as 10 million Catholics
on the mainland.
According to Church sources in Rome and China, representatives
from the Vatican and China are expected to meet before the end of
the year in Rome in an effort to finalise a deal on the ordination
of bishops.