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| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| China decries Vatican invitation to four bishops | |
| 2005-09-11 | |
BEIJING - China, which bans its Catholics from recognising the Pope, has turned down a Vatican invitation to four Chinese bishops to go to Rome, saying it showed no respect. The four bishops invited to Rome were on a list of prelates from around the world that the Pope had named to be members of next monthâs synod, the Vatican said on Thursday.
The China Patriotic Catholic Association is the state-backed Catholic church. Catholics who recognise the Vatican are forced to worship underground. âIf the Holy See has deep sincerity to improve China-Vatican relations, we hope they take real actions, rather than put up new barriers,â the spokesman said. The four bishops are Anthony Li Duan of Xian, Aloysius Jin Luxian of Shanghai, Luke Li Jingfeng and Joseph Wei Jingyi. Li Duan and Jin were appointed by the government from the state-backed church and their appointments were later tacitly recognised by the Vatican. Li Jingfeng had been a member of the underground church but was later recognised by the Chinese government. Wei remains a member of the underground church. The Vatican estimates it has about 8 million followers in China, compared with about 5 million who follow the association. The Vatican has regularly accused China of violating human rights and criticised the government for what it sees as the repression of religion. After his election in April, Pope Benedict said he hoped to establish diplomatic relations with countries that still had no formal ties with the Vatican, a clear reference to China, the only major power not to recognise the Pope. Beijing congratulated the Pope on his election, raising hopes in some quarters of a possible warming in relations. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 Oldspook, a question, which of the two have a long, gory past history of centuries of opression, murder, intolerance, racial hatred and repression of it's peoples. Frankly the two seem equaly matched. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-11 21:14 |
| #4 I stated the World would gain if both China and Catholic Meddlers were to lose. Sorry you can't read. Try taking off your Bigot Blinders. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-11 21:08 |
| #3 China opresses, while most of the last half century Catholicism was one of the major reasons for the collapse of the eastern bloc. Need I remind you of Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul II? Redneck Jim, you are a bigot to morally equate the Communist China with the Catholic Church as they both now stand. Yes, the Church was imperfect in its past - it is composed of humans who are imperfect by nature. But only an idiot or a bigot would make the statement that you did. You forget pictuer of you in your KKK hood at the end of your post? |
| Posted by: Oldspook 2005-09-11 18:49 |
| #2 The Chinese government will cause Catholicism to grow like kudzu on a Georgia highway with their ham-handed attempts at repression. What the Romans could not do with lions and bonfires the Chinese will not accomplish with denied visas and sternly worded press releases. |
| Posted by: Baba Tutu 2005-09-11 05:02 |
| #1 I think the Chinese are right to be very cautious of the Pope, the Catholic Church has a very long history of Nation-Meddling, while denying it loudly at the exact same time it's doing the meddling. This kinda generates a "Pox on both your houses" thought from me. Seems that for either or both to fail would be a good thing. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-11 01:53 |