Cardinal Tagle reminds that Bishops are not “functionaries of the Pope” or “clerics of the State,” but “successors of the Apostles.”
OCTOBER 23, 2022
Gianni Valente
(ZENIT News – FIDES / Rome, 22.10.2022).- “The motive for everything is to safeguard the valid apostolic succession and the sacramental nature of the Catholic Church in China,” with the desire to “calm, console and cheer up” Chinese Catholics.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle uses calm tones and words calibrated to reiterate what moves the Holy See to extend together with the Beijing Government for two more years the term of the Provisional Agreement on the Appointment of Chinese Bishops, signed in September 2018 and then renewed for the first time on October 22, 2020
The Filipino Cardinal recalls with grateful words the sensus fidei of so many Chinese Catholics, whose witness “has not sprouted in well cultivated and protected gardens, but in a rough and uneven terrain.” He acknowledges that “certain wounds need time and God’s consolation to be healed.” He reminds that “Bishops are not ‘functionaries of the Pope’” or “clerics of the State,” but “successors of the Apostles.” And he acknowledges how and why even the last words he heard from his Chinese grandfather help him today “to consider what can be more useful” in the dialogue with the Beijing Government.
What is the criteria that leads the Holy See to persevere in the decision taken four years ago?
The Agreement between the Holy See and the Chinese Government, signed in 2018, refers to the procedures of selection and appointment of Chinese Bishops. It is a specific question, which touches a neuralgic point in the life of the Catholic community in China. In that country, historical events have caused painful lacerations in the heart of the Church, to the point of casting a shadow of suspicion on the sacramental life itself. Hence at stake were things that affected the intimate nature of the Church and its mission of salvation.
With the Agreement an attempt is made to guarantee that Chinese Catholic Bishops can carry out their episcopal functions in full communion with the Pope. The motive is to safeguard the valid apostolic succession and the sacramental nature of the Catholic Church in China. And this can calm, console and cheer up baptized Catholics in China.
The Holy See has always reiterated the circumscribed character of the Agreement, which touches a vital subject for the Church and, therefore, cannot also be reduced to a contour element of some diplomatic strategy. Any consideration that ignores or darkens this singular physiognomy of the Agreement ends by giving it a false representation.
It’s still not the time to make an evaluation, not even provisional. However, from your point of view, how do you see the progress realized and the effects of the Agreement?
Since September 2018, six Bishops have been ordained according to the procedures established in the Agreement. The channels and areas of dialogue continue to be open, and this is already important in itself, in the given situation. The Holy See, listening to the Chinese Government and also to the Bishops, priests, religious and laity, is aware of this reality, in which fidelity to the Pope has been maintained even in difficult times and contexts, as intrinsic data of ecclesial communion.To listen to the arguments and objections of the Government also leads us to take into account the contexts and the “forma mentis” of our interlocutors. We discover that things that are absolutely clear and almost obvious to us can be new and unknown to them. It is also a challenge for us to find new words, new persuasive and familiar examples for their sensibility, to help them to understand more easily what really matters to us.
And what really matters to the Holy See?
The Holy See’s intention is only to foment the election of good Chinese Catholic Bishops that are worthy and apt to serve their people. However, to foment the election of worthy and ideal Bishops is also of interest to national Governments and Authorities, including those of China. Then, one of the Holy See’s desires has always been to foster reconciliation and see wounds healed and the open contrasts within the Church because of the tribulations they have been through. Certain wounds need time and God’s consolation to be healed.
Does one not run the risk of hiding problems under the veil of hasty optimism?
Since this process began, no one has expressed naïve triumphalism. The Holy See has never talked about the Agreement as the solution to all the problems. It has always perceived and affirmed that the road is long, it can be exhausting and that the Agreement itself can give way to misunderstandings and disorientation. The Holy See does not ignore or minimize the diversity of reactions among Chinese Catholics in face of the Agreement, where the joy of many is mixed with the perplexity of others. It is part of the process. But one must always “dirty one’s hands” with the reality of things exactly as they are. Numerous indications exist that many Chinese Catholics have grasped the inspiration followed by the Holy See in the process underway. They feel grateful and comforted by a process that confirms before all their full communion with the Pope and the universal Church.
Civil authorities intervene in the election of Chinese Bishops. But this does not seem to be a novelty or exclusivity of the Chinese situation . . .
The intervention of civil authorities in the election of Bishops has been manifested several times and in diverse ways in history. Also in the Philippines, my country, the rules of the “Royal Patronage” were in force for a long time, by which the organization of the Church was subjected to Spanish royal power. Saint Francis Xavier and the Jesuits also carried out their mission in India under the patronage of the Portuguese Crown . . . They are certainly different things and contexts, given that each case has its own specificity and historical explanation. But in these situations, what is important is that the procedure used for episcopal appointments guarantees and safeguards what the doctrine and discipline of the Church regard as essential to live hierarchical communion between the Successor of Peter and the other Bishops, successors of the Apostles. And the same happens with the procedures used at present in China.
The Chinese Government always calls the local Church to the demands of “Sinicization”
Throughout history Christianity has always experienced the processes of inculturation also as adaptation to the cultural and political contexts. The challenge in China can also be to show that belonging to the Church is not an obstacle to being a good Chinese citizen. There is no contradiction, no autarchy and, in fact, it is precisely walking in the faith of the Apostles that can help good Christians to be also good citizens.
In this phase of the process, and given the possible slowdown and mishaps, in what can the Holy See trust? In what can it trust?
The sensus fidei is comforting, of which so many Chinese Catholics give witness. A precious witness, which has often not sprouted in well cultivated and protected gardens, but in rough and uneven terrains. When I look at the history of Catholicism in China in the last decades, I always remember Saint Paul’s passage in the Letter to the Romans: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Many Chinese Catholics have experienced in their flesh what Saint Paul writes about – the tribulations, the anxieties but also the victory given by Christ’s love for them.
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