Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association
The Catholic Patriotic Association ( CPV ; Chinese 中国 天主教 爱国 会 , Pinyin Zhōngguó tiānzhǔjiào àiguó huì ) is the Catholic community officially recognized by the communist government, but not by the Roman Catholic Church in the territory of the People's Republic of China (with the exception of the special administrative areas Hong Kong and Macau ). According to its own information, it has more than five million members. Critics of the CPV see this church, established by the Chinese rulers, as an attempt at state control over Catholicism in China.
Foundation and organization
The CPV was founded in 1957 under pressure from the communist government to prevent Chinese Catholics from contacting the Vatican . Chinese Catholics are only allowed to practice their faith within this official association. The state largely controls the life of the CPV and reserves the right to appoint bishops. The Vatican has not yet officially recognized the founding of this church; it is therefore outside of communion with the Holy See and in this sense can be viewed as schismatic . In the founding year, Pope Pius XII excommunicated . the founding bishops of the CPV.
Anthony Liu Bainian is Honorary President of the Patriotic Association.
Roman Catholic Church in China
The unofficial Roman Catholic Church in the People's Republic of China , which recognizes the primacy of the Roman pontiff over the Catholics of China, continues to exist as an underground church . Its members, estimated at 12 million in number, are subject to government persecution. Bishops and priests are regularly imprisoned and transferred to state re-education camps , where since 1949, but especially since 1957, many of them have died or became martyrs according to the Roman Catholic understanding . In the past, the Chinese underground church often viewed membership of the CPV as a betrayal of the faith, which repeatedly led to tensions between the unofficial underground church and the state-recognized Catholic Church in China. There is now considerable overlap between these two Catholic communities. It is believed that around 80 percent of the CPV bishops have contacts with the Holy See and are also recognized by Rome. In Shanghai and in Sichuan Province , a bishop was ordained for the first time with permission from both Rome and Beijing.
distribution
In the People's Republic (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) there are an estimated four million members of the state-organized CPV and twelve million members of the “authentic” underground church. Based on the principle of one country, two systems , the Roman Catholic Church can officially operate in the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Areas and is not subject to any state persecution there.
The existence of the CPV is one of the reasons the Holy See continues to view the government of Taiwan as the representative of China and to have full diplomatic relations with it.
Positions of the KPV
The KPV supports artificial contraception (e.g. using condoms and pills ) due to state requirements and in contrast to the Roman Catholic position, and it is not allowed to criticize the abortion permitted by the communists . The part of the Catholic doctrines, regulations and discipline that were formulated after 1949 (year of the Communist seizure of power) have so far been rejected by it, such as the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of 1950. The CPV also rejects the reforms of the Second Vatican Council , although whose regulations could generally count on the acceptance of the communist governments worldwide. They were also accepted by the authorities and priests of the socialist republics of Hungary , Czechoslovakia and the other countries of the communist world.
In spite of this, Catholic worship in the Chinese state church was still celebrated according to the Tridentine rite until twenty years ago, entirely in accordance with the commandment not to accept all regulations from after 1949 . In the meantime, however, the CPV may sometimes pray for the Pope in Rome, the resolutions of the Second Vatican Council, especially the liturgical reform , are being implemented more and more here, and Chinese is now liturgical - at the urging of the communist authorities Language. Several state-appointed bishops of the CPV were subsequently confirmed by the Vatican.
Episcopal ordinations in May 2006
Since 2000, no bishops have been ordained by the CPV without the consent of the Vatican. The Vatican also showed a keen interest in resuming diplomatic relations that had been broken off since 1951, possibly in 2008. However, at the beginning of May 2006 there was another rift between the CPV and the Vatican. Within a week, the two bishops Ma Yinglin and Liu Xinhong were ordained bishops without waiting for prior approval from the Vatican. The latter asked, due to the reservations of the Vatican against him, in February for a postponement of the episcopal ordination. On May 3rd he agreed to be consecrated, presumably under pressure from the Communist Party.
This led to a sharp protest by the recently appointed cardinal Bishop of Hong Kong Joseph Zen, as well as by Pope Benedict XVI. Shortly afterwards, following canon law, the two new bishops and the consecrating bishops were declared excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church for latae sententiae , said Vatican press spokesman Joaquín Navarro-Valls .
Following these episcopal ordinations, the CPV refused to refrain from this practice of non-papally authorized ordinations and on May 14, 2006 introduced Zhan Silu into his office as bishop of the Diocese of Mindong . He was ordained a bishop in 2000 without consent. Zhan Silu had informed the Vatican of his consecration, but received no reply to his letter. A CPV spokesman declared their behavior to be lawful, as all consecrated bishops were "democratically elected by qualified priests." Likewise, the Vatican should meet the Chinese conditions (recognition of the "one-China policy" and non-interference in internal affairs) before entering into diplomatic relations.
See also
- Religion in the People's Republic of China
- Ad Apostolorum principis is an encyclical written by Pope Pius XII. on June 29, 1958, addressed the Chinese episcopate and peoplefor the second time towrite "on Communism and the Church in China." In his encyclical Ad Sinarum gentem of October 7, 1954, he had already taken a position “on the situation of the Church in China” and expressly warned against a Chinese state church.
Web links
- "Chinese Patriotic Bishops" (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ "China: Before new illegal episcopal ordinations" , Vatican Radio , May 18, 2011