I was somewhat surprised to read that an institution as old and cagey as the Roman Catholic Church is considering lopping off a limb with no hope of ever getting it back, according to The Guardian:
The Catholic church risks damaging its moral authority and plunging its followers into confusion if the Vatican presses ahead with an imminent deal with the Chinese government, a group of influential Catholics has warned.
Fifteen lawyers, academics and human rights activists, most based in Hong Kong, have signed an open letter to bishops across the world expressing dismay at an agreement which would involve the Vatican recognising seven bishops appointed by China’s Communist party.
The deal is aimed at restoring relations between China and the Vatican, which were cut almost 70 years ago. But the group of leading Catholics say it could create a schism in the church in China.
Giving up the authority to appoint your own management? I understand that the Vatican wants to reach out to Chinese Catholics, but this might actually alienate them, instead, if the faithful perceive the government appointed bishops as not truly Catholics.
And, more importantly, this is a dissipation of the Catholic Church’s temporal authority, since they are then meekly admitting that this could occur again in the future, and they’d once again turn turtle.
This should be an interesting story going forward.
