1: Pope's letter to Chinese Catholics.

Vatican City -- Pope Benedict XVI's much anticipated Letter to the Catholics of China (which he signed May 27) was released publicly on June 30, 2007. As universal Pastor of the Church, he commenced by expressing his love for and closeness to the Catholic community in China.

A major theme of the Letter is an appeal for unity and reconciliation between what used to be sharply-divided "underground" Catholics and those adhering to government approved bodies. At the same time it recognizes the problems which Chinese Catholics face on a daily basis.

The separate Explanatory Note from the Vatican presents the background and (in abbreviated form) may be found in this magazine on pages 31 to 33.

The Letter mentions that those bishops who have recently been ordained by Patriotic Association prelates "exercise(d) their ministry validly in the administration of the sacraments, even if they do so illegitimately." The Pope made a special plea for the Holy See to be completely free to appoint bishops. He emphasized his openness and availability to dialogue on this and any other current problem.

Benedict is also asking the whole Church to make May 24, the annual feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, a day of prayer for the Church in China. Reconciliation "cannot be accomplished overnight" and will require the support of the worldwide Catholic community, he states.

Beijing's response

The initial response of the Chinese administration to the Letter was formally polite and measured. Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China had "taken note" of the Letter, followed by a diplomatic statement of a willingness to "resolve our differences." Before expressing the hope that the Vatican "does not create new barriers," Qin repeated the Chinese demand that the Vatican sever ties with Taiwan and recognize the People's Republic as the sole legitimate government of all China.

This official response was in contrast to a news report from the Union of Asian Catholic News (UAC news) (Zenit, July 2, 2007). A few hours after the Vatican issued the Letter, several mainland China websites uploaded a simplified Chinese version. By next day, most of these websites had removed this text, clearly at the demand of government officials. It is part of the Chinese government's interference in Catholic communications on the Internet; website operators fear they will be closed down if they do not obey. UAC News, however, noted that five alternative websites, mostly by Catholics of the "underground Church, " still carried the full text of the Pope's message the next day (Zenit, July 2, 2007).

On the mainland, the Letter received no mention at Sunday Masses in the Patriotic Association churches. The vice-chairman of the Association said they had no plans to distribute the text.

Comment: According to Father Raymond de Souza, writing for the National Post (July 5, 2007) Pope Benedict "has declared victory on behalf of China's Catholics over their communist rulers." This interpretation seems premature. Only a few weeks before the Letter's appearance, Communist officials in the province of Henan dynamited a shrine to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, built a hundred years ago, in order to put an end to the annual pilgrimages there of some 40-50,000 faithful (Zenit, June 21, 2007). The persecution continues relentlessly, even if unevenly, across this vast country. However, the new order proclaimed by Benedict may bring the Patriotic Church closer to Rome and, thereby, also closer to the Chinese underground Church whose members have always been loyal to the papacy.

Three weeks after the publication of the Letter, the Catholic community in Beijing elected Father Joseph Li Shan as bishop and successor to its archbishop who died in April and who was given a state funeral. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, affirmed that the Patriotic Association had chosen "a very good, well-suited person," calling it "a positive sign," adding, "and now we hope that they seek the Holy See's approval. We are waiting" (Zenit, July 19, 2007).