Pope Benedict XVI is planning to send a letter at Easter to Catholics in China that could have wide-ranging implications for the church's relationship with China's leadership.
According to the Rev. Bernardo Cervellera, an Italian expert on China who directs the Catholic news agency AsiaNews, the letter will provide long-requested guidance to Chinese bishops on how to respond to illicitly ordained bishops, as well as how to strengthen ties with the Patriotic Association and the Communist government.
The Chinese Communist government founded the Patriotic Association in 1957 to manage the administration and life of the Catholic Church in China, which is referred to as the "official church." The underground church declares loyalty to Rome alone.
The Patriotic Association ordains its own bishops, questions seminarians on their knowledge of and allegiance to the religious policy of the government, controls Catholic publications, and administers the dioceses, including their finances.
It also regularly persecutes the underground church by imprisoning and torturing officials.
In an interview with NewsMax, Cervellera, a former missionary to China and author of a book on the history and current status of the Catholic Church in China, explained that the Pope's letter is a response to disagreement among Chinese Catholics and Vatican officials on how to deal with Beijing and the Patriotic Association.
Some, such as Cardinal Joseph Zen, the bishop of Hong Kong, argue that the Vatican should refuse to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing until the Chinese government grants full religious freedom rights to its citizens.
Others argue that increased communication and involvement with the government would make the Patriotic Association less relevant over time.
As for Beijing, Cervellera says the government is now more lenient toward the Catholic Church and willing to grant more freedoms in order to present a "new and modern China" to the world in anticipation of the 2008 Olympics.
At the same time, Cervellera explains, the government has been cracking down on the "underground" church loyal to Rome. According to AsiaNews data, 17 underground bishops have disappeared, have been arrested, or are detained in isolation. Twenty priests have been arrested.
These mixed messages from the Chinese government are due to a divide between those officials who wish to modernize the country and grant more religious freedom, and the "old guard" influenced by China's Marxist legacy, Cervellera said.
Some of the more radical members of the Party are officials within the Patriotic Association. Cervellera reported a conversation with one official who admitted that the Association controls the Catholic Church more than other religions because they fear its international unity.
"The Chinese government doesn't need to fear the Catholic Church," Cervellera tells NewsMax. "[In his letter] the Pope will try to make it clear that Catholics do not want privileges, but just want freedom to live without persecution and to make their contribution to the well-being of the Chinese people; it is not trying to undermine the government."
China is currently facing a host of social problems that the church is able to assist with, says Cervellera. The extreme wealth gap and atheistic materialism of modern China require new values for society - respect for the poor, health care, strengthening of the family, and reconciliation for a fractured society.
Considering these challenges, Cervellera believes the government would be wise to abandon its paranoia and let the church be a collaborator in the creation of the new and modern China they are striving to create.
"Benedict's letter will not be a political or diplomatic one," Cervellera said, "but will stress the value of the church in China, their suffering and the spring time of conversions they've been experiencing."
In addition, he says, the Pope will try to strengthen Chinese Catholics' faith and explain how they can witness their faith in modern china.
Cervellera lists the new challenges for Catholics in China today as the extreme wealth gap, modernization, materialistic atheism, dehumanization, and the breakdown of the family in a culture where the family was traditionally at the heart of society.
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