Governo da China Decidirá quem São os Bispos Católicos

Recentemente, o Papa Francisco fez elogios ao governo da China em uma tentativa de aproximação, mas parece que não surtiu efeito.  Coloquei aqui no blog que o bispo Zen Ze-Kiun condenou fortemente as ações e as palavras do Papa Francisco com relação à China. Ele disse que o Papa se rebaixa para a China.

Bom, o bispo tinha razão. 

Leio hoje no site UCA News que o governo da China pressionou e duas organizações católicas chinesas, controladas pelo governo, aprovaram que os bispos passem pelo crivo do governo para serem eleitos e não pelo crivo do Vaticano.

Na última vez que isso aconteceu, em 2010, o Vaticano reagiu contra, chamando de "repressão religiosa". Será que o Papa Francisco reagirá ou aceitará o bispos do governo?

Vejam texto do UCA News abaixo:

China church officials endorse government plans for 2016

Leaders of the two government-controlled Catholic organizations in China have unsurprisingly endorsed various plans for 2016 that the country's authorities laid out for them in a recent coalition meeting.

The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, a lay organization that oversees the church for the government, and the bishops' conference said after the Feb. 25 meeting that they will ordain bishops "under the leadership of the government" and convert unregistered clergy to the open church, according to an online report.

Clergy in the underground church for decades have refused to register with the open church since one of the requirements is to join the Patriotic Association.

Bishop Joseph Ma Yinglin, an illicit bishop for being ordained without papal mandate, convened the Beijing meeting with officials from the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) and the Communist Party's United Front Work Department, which controls all official religious activityin China.

The two church bodies also are preparing for the upcoming national Catholic congress expected to be held sometime this year under the SARA’s instruction, the report said.

The previous congress, held in 2010, is believed to be a key reason for a freeze in China-Vatican relations after Beijing pressured clergy to attend the congress and concelebrate Mass with illicit bishops. The congress also elected an illicit bishop as chairman of the bishops' conference.

At the time, the Vatican said the actions of China "manifest a repressive attitude with regard to the exercise of religious liberty, which it was hoped had been consigned to the past in present-day China."

A Chinese researcher noted that the Buddhist and Daoist associations have already met and elected new leaders, making it likely that the Catholic association would meet too.

"Ma, being a capable person, could have a good chance to be re-elected. Yet, the SARA would make a number of considerations, including the health and willingness of the bishops and whether they would follow the party’s line," the researcher told ucanews.com.

However, a bishop who asked not to be named noted that "whether to convene the congress is decided not by the church but by the high level [of the government], and depends much on the outcome of China-Vatican negotiations."

All the church proposals were outlined in the SARA's work plan published Feb. 2 after its national director meeting held in mid-January.

"The church has no autonomy. It is really a government-run church," said a priest who identified himself as Father Joseph.