Hong Kong Catholics Hold Prayer Vigil to Oppose Vatican Deal with Beijing

Catholics in Hong Kong held an all-night prayer vigil to protest a proposed deal between the Vatican and Beijing.

More than 200 people gathered in St Bonaventure Church in a residential neighbourhood in the territory to voice their concerns over a deal that critics say would “sell out” faithful Chinese Catholics.

“It’s a precarious situation. There’s a real danger of division,” said one priest at the prayer service told Reuters.

Chinese Catholics are split between those in the “underground” Church who are loyal to the Pope and the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association, which appoints bishops without Rome’s approval.

Sources say that the proposed deal would allow the Vatican a say in the appointment of Chinese bishops in exchange for recognising ones already appointed by the Chinese government.

The vigil came as a group of Catholics signed an open letter warning of “schism” if the deal goes ahead.

The letter says that the bishops appointed by Beijing “do not have the trust of the faithful, and have never repented publicly. If they were to be recognized as legitimate, the faithful in Greater China would be plunged into confusion and pain, and schism would be created in the Church in China.”

This is not a so-called religious problem. It will change the course of history. The USA surely understands we are supporting communism by not intervening? Not to mention human rights. Millions put at risk with a stroke of pope’s pen. I wonder what our State Dept is doing?

I recall back in the days when the late Sa'ad Haddad was fighting the moslems and the PLO in southern Lebanon. He got absolutely no support from the Catholic Church (of which he was a member). He once said he had actually written a letter to the Pope at the time ("St." John Paul II) asking for help and got no replay whatsoever. He was obviously hurt. "The Pope is our father," he said, "and a father is supposed to care for his sons, even when they are bad." It was heartbreaking. And all because Haddad and his people were allied with Israel (the Pope had recently had his photo taken with the grinning puss of Arafat and it was publicized internationally). These poor Maronites of southern Lebanon were probably the only traditional Catholic population to know what it's like to be a "redneck"--unworthy of notice, much less support.

I believe I was actually in the church at that time. The anti-Zionism was so radically different from the Fundamentalist Protestantism I had known all my life. That together with the evolutionism/higher criticism, anti-messianism, and prejudice against traditional rural Americans were the hardest things to take.

Haddad died, forsaken by "his" church and by the world . . . but not by Israel.

The loyal, orthodox Catholics of China are about to go through the same thing. The only difference is that up until now, the Vatican supported them.

Is it known if any of these seven bishops appointed by the communist state have valid orders? If not, then this will be the end of the Catholic Church in China. For if the bishops are without valid orders, there can be no priests and no Sacraments. The Church will have failed and “The Gates of Hell” will have prevailed.

This is where the “separation of Church and State” canard finds its final resting place; the State has all the rights and the Church has none.

Who are the Chinese Catholics going to belong to, the City of God or the City of Man?

You’ve got it. The “underground,” real Catholic bishops in apostolic succession, and priests, were ordained by Church. The “Chinese Patriotic Association” are appointed by the government, they are essentially a govt bureaucrat. This is the very worst thing this pope has done. People in Hong Kong are praying and pleading for pope not to destroy church. This is a huge deal and seems strange we hear very little here. But then pope gets support.

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