The God Squad

The Irish Times – Saturday, August 20, 2011

CLIFFORD COONAN in Beijing

TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny’s recent censure of the Catholic Church has been taken on board by China in its ongoing row with the Vatican.

Mr Kenny has said the Cloyne report on clerical child sex abuse highlighted dysfunction and elitism in Rome. While there has been no official comment from Beijing about his remarks, an editorial in the English-language Global Times said Mr Kenny’s comments proved China was right to question the Holy See’s authority in appointing priests.

The Global Times is a subsidiary of the Communist Party’s official organ, The People’s Daily .

The editorial, headlined “Catholicism should adapt to local conditions”, said the church’s power was vastly disproportionate to the diminutive size of the Vatican.

“It [the Vatican] names cardinals in other countries, its senior priests abroad have diplomatic protection and, we have it from the Irish PM that they can interfere in the affairs of sovereign states,” it said. “It’s the West’s historical baggage and frankly its problem. But China is very much within its rights to question the power of the Vatican state to have sole authority in naming priests in faraway lands.”

The communists expelled foreign clergy in the 1950s and severed ties with the Holy See. China’s officially atheist government requires Christians of all denominations to worship in state-registered churches.

Catholics are required to join the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. It was established eight years after the 1949 revolution, has five million members and repeatedly angers Rome by naming bishops without the Vatican’s approval.

The Holy See estimates that about eight million Chinese Catholics worship secretly in churches not recognised by the government.

Much to Beijing’s irritation, the Vatican is one of a handful of states that extends diplomatic recognition to the self-ruled island of Taiwan. The Holy See has hinted that it could switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing if China stops appointing senior clergy against the Vatican’s wishes.

In recent years, under Pope Benedict XVI, relations have improved. Disputes over appointments in China’s official church have been avoided by quietly conferring on candidates, which means most state-approved bishops have a Vatican blessing.

“China is questioning the principle of letting a foreign state dictate to another what happens on its own territory . . . Why can’t the Chinese pick their own bishops, ideally without the interference of any state, whether local or foreign?” the editorial continued. “The huge support that the Irish PM received after his tirade has demonstrated how the Irish people have . . . put their allegiance to their government above that to the Vatican, without being any less Catholic. Institutions evolve and so should the Church.”