China’s Religious War: Cardinal Zen Talks Beijing and the Vatican
For the third time in a year, China has declared war on the Vatican, according to one preeminent Cardinal. The Chinese government-sanctioned Catholic Church ordained Joseph Huang Bingzhang as a Catholic bishop July 14 in the city of Shantou, in southern Guangdong province. The move was made despite the express opposition of the Pope. This marks the third ordination without papal approval since last November, and has been viewed by the Holy See as an “unnecessary” and “spiteful” course of actions, according to Hong Kong’s Bishop-Emeritus and current Cardinal, Joseph Zen Ze-kiun.
Zen, who wore a large, silver Jasmine flower pin — a recent Chinese symbol of revolution — on his left side while talking with TIME, said the church’s main objection centers on the Chinese government’s insistence on calling its state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association legitimately “Catholic,” yet impeding the papal prerogative within China.
“You can start a new church, but don’t call it a Catholic church,” says Zen.For many decades, the officially atheistic Chinese government and the Catholic Church were largely at odds, even while the CPCA’s stated goal was to help the religious community. Estimates of Chinese Catholics have ranged from four million to 14 million people. Two years ago, however, relations between the Vatican and Beijing largely normalized and ecclesiastical leaders leaders dared to hope that they would be allowed some autonomy in China, Zen says.