VATICAN (CNS): “By October a decision is expected regarding the Vatican proposal to extend the provisional agreement ad experimentum (on an experimental basis), wrote Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, on a proposal to extend the 2018 agreement on the appointment of bishops in China.
Tornelli’s article appeared in Vatican News and L’Osssservatore Romano on September 29. The agreement, the details of which have never been made public, is set to expire on October 22.
He said that the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and its travel-related restrictions slowed negotiations over extending the agreement, but that “the results have been positive, although limited, and suggest going forward with the application of the agreement for another determined period of time.”
Tornielli wrote that from the moment the Vatican announced the agreement, it made clear that it does not cover “direct diplomatic relations between the Holy See and China, the juridical status of the Catholic Chinese Church, or the relations between the clergy and the country’s authorities.”
He said the agreement only deals with “the process for the appointment of bishops: an essential question for the life of the Church and for the necessary communion between the pastors of the Chinese Catholic Church with the bishop of Rome and with the bishops throughout the world.”
He wrote, “The goal of the provisional agreement, therefore, has never been merely diplomatic, much less, political. (It was) always genuinely pastoral. Its objective is to permit the Catholic faithful to have bishops in full communion with the successor of Peter who are at the same time recognised by the authorities of the People’s Republic of China.”
In the two years since the agreement was first signed, only a handful—six—bishops acceptable both to the Vatican and to Beijing have been ordained.
In related news, the United states secreatary of state, Mike Pompeo, met for 45 minutes on October 1 with Pietro Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state and Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
The Vatican Presss Office said in a statement that “the sides presented their respective positions regarding relations with the People’s Republic of China in a climate of respect, relaxed and cordial.”
In an article in the magazine, First Things, on September 18, Pompeo criticised the Vatican’s plans to renew the provisional agreement and urged the Vatican to use its “moral authority” to press China on human rights, principally religious freedom.
Cardinal Parolin noted on September 30 that the article was published in periodical often critical of Pope Francis. That choice, he said, “says something about the intention of those who wrote this article.”
