Hong Kong cardinal calls for Vatican’s top diplomat to resign over
China rapprochement talks
Cardinal Joseph Zen says Secretary of State Pietro Parolin
should quit over ‘incredible betrayal’
A Hong Kong cardinal who has spearheaded opposition to the
Vatican’s rapprochement with Beijing on Thursday called for the Pope’s
secretary of state to step down, saying any deal with mainland China would
amount to a betrayal of the Catholic faith.
The Vatican and Beijing have been in advanced talks this
year to forge what would be a historic breakthrough and precursor to a
resumption in diplomatic relations after 70 years, with Secretary of State
Pietro Parolin among the chief negotiators.
The Vatican may send a delegation to China before the end of
this month. If the meeting goes well, the two could reach an agreement on the
appointment of bishops, a Chinese state-run newspaper reported earlier this
week.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, the most senior Catholic cleric on
Chinese soil, said he believed the two sides were making a “secret deal”,
although he acknowledged he had no connection with the Vatican and was
“completely in the dark”.
“They’re giving the flock into the mouths of the wolves.
It’s an incredible betrayal,” he said.
He described Parolin, the highest ranking diplomat in the
Vatican, as someone who despised heroes of faith.
“He should resign,” Zen said at his home on a wooded
hillside on Hong Kong Island.
“I don’t think he has faith. He is just a good diplomat in a
very secular, mundane meaning.”
Zen, who at times knocked his knuckles on the table to make a point, stopped short of calling on Pope Francis to step down, saying: “I would not come out to fight the Holy Father, that is my bottom line.”
The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for
comment on Zen’s remarks.
At a time when the Vatican is also under pressure for
purportedly covering up a sex abuse scandal in the United States, with one
archbishop even calling for the Pope to resign, Zen suggested the China deal
would further add to the church’s vulnerability.
“The consequences will be tragic and long lasting, not only
for the church in China but for the whole church because it damages the
credibility. Maybe that’s why they might keep the agreement secret.”
China’s roughly 12 million Catholics are split between an
underground church that swears loyalty to the Vatican, and the state-supervised
Catholic Patriotic Association.
The potential deal has divided communities of Catholics
across the country, some of whom fear greater suppression should the Vatican
cede greater control to Beijing, but others want to see rapprochement.
Zen said he believed only half the underground church in
China would accept a deal and was concerned how the remainder might react.
“I’m afraid they may do something irrational, they may make
rebellion,” said 86-year-old Zen, a former bishop of Hong Kong and the most
outspoken critic of the Pope’s China strategy.
Pope Francis has rejected criticism that the Holy See may be
selling out Catholics to Beijing’s communist government.
Zen said he believed any deal with atheist China would deal
a significant blow to Pope Francis’ credibility.
“It’s a complete surrender. It’s a betrayal [of our faith].
I have no other words, he said.
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