The Vatican appears to be seeking a rapprochement with China, almost 70 years after Beijing broke ties. But the Catholic Church has little to gain and much to lose from mending ties with the Communist Party-ruled country. And Pope Francis should be under no illusions: Any agreement the two sides may strike will be entirely on Beijing’s terms.
This month, the Vatican asked two underground Chinese bishops to step down in favor of their Beijing-approved counterparts, one of whom the church in Rome had already excommunicated. Then yesterday, the Vatican indicated it would recognize the legitimacy of seven Communist Party-approved bishops. The moves come after several years of statements and other indications from Pope Francis that he hopes to mend ties with China. The Vatican currently maintains diplomatic relations with the self-governed island of Taiwan.
A split has long divided Chinese Catholic clergy into those appointed by the state-sanctioned Catholic church formed in the 1950s and those loyal to the pope and secretly ordained as part of an underground Catholic movement. The Vatican believes that the decline in the Catholic population in China, now about 10 million (although estimates vary) after peaking in 2000, is due to tensions over this split. Pope Francis hopes that reconciliation will re-energize the Church there.
Beijing, meanwhile, fears foreign sway over its population. In any deal to restore relations with the Vatican, the party would almost certainly insist on having the final say over which bishops are appointed.
Such a capitulation of spiritual authority would damage the Catholic Church in China for years to come. How do we know? Because this very scenario has played out before — in communist Hungary.
Source https:// www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2018/02/02/pope-francis-is-giving-in-to-the-chinese-communist-party/?utm_term=.0b8910d5c434
Wonder if it has to do with pope and his comments on China. Also today headlines about Obama admin was the pushing out pope Benedict.
http:// www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/03/08/italian-archbishop-suggests-pope-benedict-xvi-resigned-obama-pressures/