By Phil Lawler ( bio – articles – email ) | Sep 16, 2024
During his exchange with reporters on his return trip from Signapore last week, Pope Francis said that the Vatican’s secret agreement with Beijing on the appointment of new bishops offers “a promise and a hope.” The Pontiff was upbeat about the future of Vatican relations with China, and about the outcome of that agreement. “The result is good,” he said.
How good? Gianni Valente, the director of the Vatican’s Fides news service, argues that “if we stick to the facts, the papal judgment is an act of simple Christian realism.”
Well then, let’s stick to the facts. The goal of the secret agreement was to ensure that all the Catholic dioceses in China are led by bishops in full communion with the Holy See. In the six years since the agreement was concluded, Valente reports, nine new bishops have been ordained with the approval of both Beijing and the Holy See. “Thus, the number of vacant Chinese dioceses is gradually decreasing.”
True. But to keep things in proper perspective, the number of vacant Chinese sees is only very gradually decreasing. There are today, by my unofficial count, 46 Chinese dioceses, including three archdioceses, currently without a bishop. At the going rate of 1.5 episcopal ordinations a year, it would take a bit more than 30 years to provide every Chinese diocese with a bishop. And that projection assumes that no new openings would occur during those 30 years because of deaths or resignations—which would be extremely unlikely in any case, but particularly so given that at least two dioceses are currently led by bishops over 90 years old.
Pope Francis says that relations with Beijing are improving. Cardinal Pietro Parolin agrees, adding that the Holy See hopes to sign another extension of the agreement, despite the setbacks that the Vatican Secretary of State prefers to characterize as “disharmonious situations that create disagreements and misunderstandings.”
But if there has been progress, at what price has it come? When I asked that question two years ago, I weighed the available evidence:
The Vatican agreed to accept the bishops installed by Beijing; Beijing agreed to recognize some of the “underground” Catholic bishops who had been loyal to Rome but refused to accept those who would not recognize the authority of the government-backed Patriotic Association—a group whose purpose, Pope Benedict XVI had warned, cannot be reconciled with the teaching authority of the Church. Six “underground” bishops have been recognized by Beijing, and now can practice their ministry in public. But others remain underground, in some cases under house arrest.
Not much has changed since 2022. There are still “underground” bishops under house arrest. The Patriotic Association has more effective influence than the Holy See. And 46 dioceses are still waiting for bishops. If the secret agreement is a success, what would failure look like?
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
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