Beijing and Vatican to Sign Agreement over Bishops

choi

Francis X Rocca and Eva Dou, Beijing and Vatican to Sign Agreement over Bishops. Wall Street Journal, Sept 15, 2018.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chi ... -bishops-1536929831

Quote:  

"China and the Vatican are set to sign a landmark agreement later this month ending a long struggle between Beijing’s Communist rulers and the pope over who chooses the leaders of Catholicism in the world’s most populous country, according to two people familiar with the matter.  Reactions to the deal, which gives both sides a say in appointing the church's bishops in China, are likely to be sharply divided * * *

"The deal would include first official recognition by Beijing that the pope is the head of the Catholic Church in China. In return, Pope Francis would formally recognize seven excommunicated Chinese bishops who were appointed by the Communist government without Vatican approval. * * * [describing anticipated opposition:] Others, including some US diplomats, are concerned the pope is ceding a strong influence over church leadership to an avowedly atheist authoritarian regime.

"The pact with the Vatican could still fall through or be delayed due to unforeseen events, one of the people familiar with the  matter said. The two sides are close signing even though China's government  has recently intensified a crackdown on Christians and other religious groups [mentioning Uighurs and Dalai Lama 2 paragraphs down]* * * The deal is expected to stir criticism of the pope already under fire from within and outside the church for his handling of clerical sexual abuse.  In practice, China's Communist Party is unlikely to give up control over any religion * * * Chinese president Xi Jinping has launched a program to 'sinicize' all religions to make sure they don't offer alternate viewpoints to the Communist Party.

"The Vatican had hoped to sign the deal in the spring, but needed several more months to overcome resistance from some Chinese Catholics, one of the persons familiar with the matter said. Ub particular, the bishop of southeastern diocese of Shantou balked at stepping aside ub favor of an excommunicated bishop as part of the agreement, this person said.

My comment: The quotation is from print. Its online version is leaked out, about twice as long as that in print. There is no need to read the rest of print report, which is about twice as long as the quotation above.