Vatican Sells Out Chinese Catacombers

On cue. Everything else catholic was sold out. Why not feed catholics to the lions.

Cardinal Zen rebukes the Vatican’s Secretary of State over China: He is a ‘man of little faith’

ROME, February 6, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Joseph Zen has criticized the Vatican’s Secretary of State over comments about the Holy See’s relations with China. Zen, the bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, says Cardinal Pietro Parolin is a “man of little faith” and that he wonders if Parolin knows what “true suffering is.”

In a statement released on Monday, Cardinal Zen addressed the controversy over the Vatican legitimizing excommunicated bishops loyal to Beijing and the forcing of legitimate bishops of the underground Church into retirement.

Zen said that while several close associates have advised him to pray more and to speak less, he wants to “keep talking,” especially because he senses that “before long” he will no longer be able to speak.

“How many nights of suffering will the priests and laity endure, at the thought that they will have to bow down to and obey those bishops who are now illegitimate and excommunicated, but tomorrow will be legitimized by the Holy See, and supported by the government,” he said.

Responding to accusations regarding the appointment of bishops, Cardinal Parolin said in a Jan. 31 interview with La Stampa that the Church knows the sufferings endured by the Chinese people but is confident that once the question of episcopal appointments has been settled, the obstacles to Chinese Catholics living in communion with the Pope and among themselves should be greatly diminished.

“Does this man of little faith know what true suffering is?” Cardinal Zen asked.

“The brothers and sisters of mainland China are not afraid of being reduced to poverty, of being put into prison, of shedding their blood. Their greatest suffering is to see themselves betrayed by ‘family,’” he said.

The Cardinal of Hong Kong described Parolin’s interview as “filled with erroneous opinions,” and accused him of manipulating Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 letter to Chinese Catholics.

One day earlier, on Jan. 30, 2018, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke issued an official statement concerning “widespread news on a presumed difference of thought and action” between Pope Francis “and his collaborators in the Roman Curia on issues relating to China.”

The communique came the day after Cardinal Zen revealed in an open letter the contents of a conversation he had with Pope Francis. The bishop emeritus of Hong Kong said he expressed to the Holy Father his grave fears over the recent steps taken in China by Vatican representatives regarding the appointment of bishops. Burke’s statement read:

The Pope is in constant contact with his collaborators, in particular in the Secretariat of State, on Chinese issues, and is informed by them faithfully and in detail on the situation of the Catholic Church in China and on the steps in the dialogue in progress between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China, which he follows with special attention. It is therefore surprising and regrettable that the contrary is affirmed by people in the Church, thus fostering confusion and controversy.

In his statement on Monday, Cardinal Zen took issue with the Vatican spokesman, calling him a “caged bird” who should be comforted since he is “forced to carry out such an embarrassing role.”

Here below is a LifeSiteNews translation (from Italian) of Cardinal Zen’s full statement.



Several people who care about me have advised me to pray more and not to speak too much. Of course it is right to pray more, because the Lord is our hope and we have confidence in the intercession of Our Lady, the Mother of God.

They have probably advised me in this way out of the fear that if I speak too much, I will be more easily attacked. But I am not afraid of this, because my words are correct and helpful. At my age, I don’t care whether I gain or lose.

I want to keep talking because I have the impression that before long I will not be able to talk anymore. And so I ask your forgiveness.

1. In the reading at Mass this Sunday, Job has to endure the long night of suffering, in which he laments that he no longer sees happiness with his eyes. But Psalm 146 invites us to praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted. In recent days, brothers and sisters living on the Chinese mainland have learned that the Vatican is ready to surrender to the Chinese communist party, and so they are uneasy. Given that illegitimate and excommunicated bishops will be legitimized, while the legitimate ones will be forced to retire, it is logical that the legitimate and clandestine bishops should be concerned about their fate. How many nights of suffering will the priests and laity endure, at the thought that they will have to bow down to and obey those bishops who are now illegitimate and excommunicated, but tomorrow will be legitimized by the Holy See, and supported by the government. Especially as a disaster has already begun without having to wait for tomorrow. As of February 1, new government rules on religious activity have gone into effect. The clandestine priests of Shanghai have asked the faithful not to go to their Masses anymore, because those who persist in doing so will be arrested! But do not be afraid, because the Lord heals the brokenhearted.

2. The Holy See’s Secretary of State has said that “we know the sufferings endured yesterday and today by our Chinese brothers and sisters.” But does this man of little faith know what true suffering is? The brothers and sisters of mainland China are not afraid of being reduced to poverty, of being put into prison, of shedding their blood. Their greatest suffering is to see themselves betrayed by “family.” Parolin’s interview is filled with erroneous opinions. It is not decent for a high-ranking official of the Holy See to manipulate the letter [to Chinese Catholics] of a Pope, even if he is already retired, by citing the passage (4.7): “The solution to existing problems cannot be pursued via an ongoing conflict with the legitimate civil authorities,” but concealing the fact that the letter immediately continues by saying that “at the same time, though, compliance with those authorities is not acceptable when they interfere unduly in matters regarding the faith and discipline of the Church.”

During World Youth Day in Korea, the Pope told the Asian bishops that “the prerequisite of dialogue is coherence with one’s own identity.” Well informed persons in the upper ranks of the Holy See are now saying with regret that “we will be like a bird in a cage but the cage will be bigger; we are asking for as much space as possible.” But the real problem is not whether the cage is big or small, but who is in this cage. The clandestine believers are not in it. But now you want to force them into it as well, so that that they too may be “reconciled” with those who are already inside! Of course, there are people in the cage who are trapped there, but there also servile and domineering persons who are inside it quite willingly. (I was the first to say that there is only one Church in China and that all believers, both of the official Church and of the clandestine Church, love the pope; but now I no longer dare to say this).

Since I have decided to let truth and justice prevail (everything I say starts from the principle of preserving the pope’s reputation and setting the Church’s doctrine in clear light), I have no difficulty in saying that I reported my opinions on “dialogue” to Pope Francis when he received me in private audience three years ago. The pope listened to me attentively for forty minutes, without interrupting me. When I told him that, objectively speaking, the official Church of mainland China is schismatic (in that it has an autonomous administration independent of the Holy See and dependent on the government), the pope replied: “Of course!”

3. Yesterday not a few individuals came to see me or telephoned me to offer me some comfort, following the accusation made against me by the spokesman for the Vatican. But they have misunderstood, because I do not need to be comforted. It would have been better for them to have gone to comfort that spokesman. He is the one who is a caged bird forced to carry out such an embarrassing role: this time he was very efficient and immediately criticized by intervention (and of course he read what had been written by others). One may recall that more than a year ago, prior to the 9th Congress of Representatives of the Chinese Catholic Church, he was the one who said that “the Holy See is waiting to make a judgment based on proven facts.” One year later, they are still waiting to make judgments.

4. Also deserving of pity is the commentator from the “South China Morning Post” who every day finds someone to criticize and lampoon: he must be an expert who knows everything and could have his say on all the programs de omnibus et aliquibus aliis. This person has written that I love politics more than religion. I want to wake him up a bit: “Where angels fear to tread, the fools rush in.” Does he know what religion is, what faith is? He has said that I have decided to make the believers of mainland China suffer. But does he understand what the real suffering is for persons of faith? Nonetheless, the last thing he said was right: “The Vatican has to readjust its worldly diplomacy, whatever its spiritual preferences.” But they are not only preferences, they are non-negotiable principles!

Card. Joseph Zen:

Reconciliation between official and underground communities may be difficult, but it is possible. The Chinese state aims to build a national and schismatic Church. The Vatican’s veneration of Ostpolitik risks helping Beijing "enslave the Church". The manipulation of the words of Benedict XVI and obedience to Pope Francis.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - Reconciliation between official and underground communities in China, is not "without difficulty but possible"; the need for dialogue between China and the Vatican to clarify intent, "a true religious freedom" and not a situation in which "the State ... manages the Catholic Church in China", in short a "schismatic" church; the accusations that Vatican diplomacy is "manipulating" Benedict XVI’s Letter to Chinese Catholics and their "veneration" of Card. Agostino Casaroli’s dated Ostpolitik; submission to the judgment of Pope Francis who, according to the author, is not in line with his collaborators in the Curia. These are some of the themes addressed in this essay sent to us by Card. Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong. All emphasis from the original.

A response to "Why we are in dialogue with China", the interview that His Eminence Cardinal Parolin gave to Gianni Valente (that is, an interview cooked up between the two).

I read the interview several times, now I read it again (even if the reading repels me) in order to honestly make my comments.

I am grateful to His Eminence for recognizing that "it is legitimate to have different opinions".

(1)
First of all, we note the insistence with which His Eminence affirms that his point of view and the purpose of his activities are of a pastoral, spiritual, evangelical and faith-based nature, while our thinking and acting is only in a political key.

What we see instead is that he venerates the Ostpolitik diplomacy of his master Casaroli and despises the genuine faith of those who firmly defend the Church founded by Jesus on the Apostles from any interference by secular power.

I will never forget my amazement at reading a report in the Osservatore Romano a few years ago on a speech that he had given where he describes the heroes of the faith in the central European countries under the communist regime (Card. Wyszynsky, Card. Mindszenty and Card. Beran, without mentioning them) ) as "gladiators", "people systematically opposed to the government and eager to appear on the political stage".

(2)
We also note the repeated mention of his compassion for the suffering of our brothers and sisters in China. Crocodile tears! What suffering is he talking about? He knows very well that they are not afraid of poverty, nor the limitation or deprivation of liberty, nor even the loss of life. But he has absolutely no respect for all of this at all (they are "gladiators"!)

He also speaks of wounds that are still open and his intention to treat them by applying "the balm of mercy". But what wounds is he talking about?

Towards the end of the interview, at one point he says: "To be frank, I will tell you: I am also convinced that part of the suffering experienced by the Church in China is not so much due to the will of individuals as to the objective complexity of the situation".

So he knows very well that in the Church in China it is not (if not infrequently) a case of personal offenses or resentments, but persecution by an atheistic totalitarian power. Use the balm of mercy? It is not a question of personal offenses to be forgiven. It is a slavery from which to free oneself.

Mercy for the persecutors? For their accomplices? Rewarding traitors? Castigating the faithful? Forcing a legitimate bishop to give way to an excommunicated one? It this not more like rubbing salt on these still open wounds?

Let us return to the "objective situation". The painful state was not created by us, but by the regime. The communists want to enslave the Church. There are those who refuse this enslavement, there are those who suffer, unfortunately there are those who embrace it.

Faced with this reality is it possible not to speak of "power, resistance, conflict, compromise, giving in, surrender, betrayal"?

Parolin wants us to talk about communion and collaboration. But are the conditions right? Where is this unity? How can we collaborate? Thus, we must analyse the two fundamental points that need clarification.

(3)
What is the unity you want to achieve?

a) His Eminence praises Chinese Catholics and states that "there are not two Catholic Churches in China". If I'm not mistaken, I was the first to affirm this at a meeting of the Synod of Bishops, because, in both communities, the faithful in their hearts are loyal to the Pope (today with the increasing number of opportunists in the community run by the Government I no longer dare to apply this affirmation to the entire Church in China).

But Parolin cannot deny that, for the moment, there are two communities with two structures based on two different, opposing principles. One structure is founded on the principle of the Primacy of Peter on which Jesus established his Church, the other structure is imposed by an atheistic government intent on creating a schismatic Church subject to its power.

b) Eliminating this division and achieving unity must be the desire of every Catholic, but not with one wave of a magic wand, let alone by manipulating the Letter of Pope Benedict.

In the Letter by Pope Emeritus there is this paragraph (8.10): "Some (bishops), not wishing to be subjected to undue control exercised over the life of the Church, and eager to maintain total fidelity to the Successor of Peter and to Catholic doctrine, have felt themselves constrained to opt for clandestine consecration. The clandestine condition is not a normal feature of the Church's life, and history shows that Pastors and faithful have recourse to it only amid suffering, in the desire to maintain the integrity of their faith and to resist interference from State agencies in matters pertaining intimately to the Church's life. "Father Jeroom Heyndrickx citing out of context the phrase "the clandestine condition is not a normal feature of the Church's life," has made it his mission to spread the word throughout China (where he enjoyed great freedom of movement):"because clandestine communities should not exist anymore, everyone must come to the open and become part of the community subject to the Government”.

In the Commission for the Church in China we pointed out this grave error, but both the Secretariat of State and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples ignored this warning, obviously supporting ​​Father Heyndrickx’ theory.

It was only two years later, when this mistake had already done immense damage, that we managed to include some notes in the "Compendium" booklet to try to distinguish the reconciliation of hearts from unity in structures.

c) Parolin says that one should not maintain "a perennial conflict between opposing principles and structures". But obviously this does not depend on us alone, because one of the two structures is under Government power, which certainly exercises control over it and shows no sign of giving it up.

Pope Benedict says that the journey of unity "is not easy and cannot be accomplished overnight" (6.5, 6.6).

But our diplomats want a miracle and they want it now, and not only. They also accuse others of clinging “to the spirit of opposition to condemn his brother or use the past as an excuse to stir up new resentments and closures " and of not being ready "to forgive, this means, unfortunately, that there are other interests to defend: but this is not an evangelical perspective".

These are really cruel reproaches to address to faithful members of the Church, who for many years have suffered every kind of deprivation and oppression for their fidelity to the true Church!

When the other party has no intention of respecting the essential nature of the Catholic Church and on our part one wants unity at all costs, there is only one possible choice, that of forcing everyone to enter the “bird’s cage".

d) With the solution of the "enlarged cage" will this encourage people to walk together? To embark on a new path? With serenity? With confidence?

It is said that it will be a gradual process, but let us suppose that the authors already have the next steps to be taken after the legitimization of the illegitimate in mind.

What will become of those Bishops who are legitimate according to the law of the Church but who are not recognized by the Government? Will they be "accepted"? That is, admitted to the cage? Will it finally be "a" legitimate episcopal conference? (With the Government holding the key to the cage?)

Parolin and company recognize that this solution is not perfect, it is a lesser evil. You can endure and suffer an evil (damage), but you can never do wrong (sin), great or small.

Our suffering at the creation of a schismatic Church by others may be inevitable, but we cannot assist in its creation.

Moreover, a schismatic church created by the party is not a cause for fear, it will fade with the fall of the regime. Instead, a schismatic church with the Pope's blessing would be horrifying!

(4)
Having clarified the nature of the unity to be reached, it is easy to consider the following problem: How do we achieve this unity?

With reconciliation (ad intra) and dialogue (with the Government).

a) Reconciliation is not without difficulty but possible, because it depends only on our goodwill, dialogue with the Government is more difficult.

b) Pope Francis in Seoul had said: "The first condition of a dialogue is consistency with one's own identity."

It is a matter of honesty, of justice. We need to know and let it be known where we want to arrive, that is, what our conscience dictates as a desirable outcome to dialogue. In our case, obviously it is: "a true religious freedom which not only does not harm but favours the true good of the nation".

Will we be able to manage this dialogue? Is there a hope of success? Is there at least a minimum foundation to hope in the present situation when the Chinese Communist Party is more powerful and overbearing than ever? When, both its words and actions point to an even more rigorous control of every religion, but in a special way of the so-called "foreign" religions.

The Communists no longer feel the need to save appearances. Photographs show that it is the State that manages the Catholic Church in China, which is no longer Catholic but Chinese, schismatic. (The joint meeting of the Patriotic Association and the so-called "episcopal conference is [always] led by a government official") The Popes refrain from using the word "schism" for compassion for those who find themselves not of their own will under severe pressure.

From what we can observe see, the Holy See is acquiescing to this unacceptable reality. (Is it really sure that this is for the good of the Church?)

In order for a dialogue to be true, it must start from a position of equality. There is no real dialogue between the jailer and the prisoners, between the victor and the vanquished. But our own seems to start from a position of weakness. Reliable source says that the Vatican Delegation could not discuss the case of Bishop James Su Zhi Min who has been in the hands of the government for more than twenty years, because our interlocutors refused. In my opinion, our delegation should have left the negotiating table and come home. Accepting their refusal is like kneeling down to them from the outset.

After all we are not the vanquished. Do our diplomats not know that the faithful of the clandestine community constituted, and perhaps still constitute, the majority? That they have churches and cathedrals in various places? That in the city, where obviously they cannot have churches, they say Masses in private homes so as not to be disturbed by the public security authorities who are also aware of everything. Unfortunately, as of February 2018 we can expect a much stricter control by the Government on the activities of these our brothers and sisters, also because the Government knows that by now it also has the consent of the Holy See.

c) While supporting the need for external dialogue with the government, the Vatican has stifled dialogue within the Church. With a supremely rude gesture it dismissed the Pontifical Commission for the Church in China set up by Pope Benedict without so much as a word. The only competent Chinese voice in the Vatican was Archbishop Savio, sending him as Nuncio to Greece. So much for "finding synthesis of truth"! So much for "discovering God's plan together"! They are convinced that they "have considered everything properly".

(5)
The most repugnant thing I find in the whole interview is the dishonest exploitation of expressions of the Letter of Pope Benedict, making it appear as if he was a faithful supporter of the Pope Emeritus, whereas in reality he and the then Prefect of the Congregation for 'Evangelization of the Peoples have thwarted all of Pope Ratzinger's efforts to bring the Church in China back on the right path.

At the beginning and end of the interview he made two citations respectively.

a) In Chapter 4 Paragraph 7 Pope Benedict says: "The solution to existing problems cannot be pursued via an ongoing conflict with the legitimate civil authorities; at the same time, though, compliance with those authorities is not acceptable when they interfere unduly in matters regarding the faith and discipline of the Church.. "

b) In Paragraph 6 he had said: (Citing "Deus caritas est") "The Church cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.."

In both quotes, Parolin took advantage of the first half, leaving out the other half, losing the balance of Pope Benedict’s thought.

(6)
Given the recent controversies, I feel the desire to clarify my relationship with Pope Francis who, whenever I meet him, fills me with tenderness.

It is true that my revelations of a private interviews may have caused him embarrassment and for this I am sorry. But I am still convinced that there is a void between the way of thinking of His Holiness and the way of thinking of his collaborators, who readily take advantage of the Pope's optimism to pursue their goals. Until proven otherwise I am convinced that I have defended the good name of the Pope from the responsibility of the erroneous judgement of his collaborators and that he has communicated his encouragement to my brothers in China who are, as we say in China, "in the burning fire and in deep water".

If, by chance, one day a bad agreement is signed with China, obviously with the approval of the Pope, I will withdraw in silence to "monastic life". Certainly as a son, even if unworthy, of Don Bosco I will not make myself the head of a rebellion against the Roman Pontiff, Vicar of Christ on earth.

Let us pray for Pope Francis "that the Lord will preserve him, give him strength, make him happy, and save him from the hands of his enemies."