Any doubts the Vatican was not serious about Communist China have now been eradicated:
Vatican spokesman, Dr Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said in a statement released yesterday that the episcopal ordinations, ‘without pontifical mandate, are illegitimate’ and contrary to the consciences of those participating in the ceremony.
The unauthorised ordination of Joseph Liu Xinhong took place two days ago in Wuhu (province of Anhui) and follows the ordination of Joseph Ma Yinglin that took place in Kunming (province of Yunnan) last Sunday.
Dr Navarro-Valls said that bishops and priests who took part in the episcopal ordinations have been subjected to strong pressures and to threats from ‘external entities to the Church’ so that they would take part in the ceremony.
‘It is a grave wound to the unity of the Church, for which severe canonical sanctions, as it is known, are foreseen,’ he said. ‘Episodes of this kind produce lacerations not only in the Catholic community but also in the internal conscience itself.’
Excommunications on this order have been performed before, most recently with the Lefebvrists in 1985.
The consequences of the Communist Chinese interfering in Vatican affairs are legion. Votes at the United Nations will not go well, Catholic priests could be encouraged to speak against the regime, offenses against human rights will receive the full attention of the Catholic community, missionaries will feel encouraged to come and evangelize, other nations could feel compelled to insist on religious freedom and other liberalizing issues.
More importantly, given the Cardinal Kung Foundations’ call for the Olympics to be withdrawn from Beijing, the entire 2008 Olympics could be placed under a dark cloud of criticism from the Catholic West — or even withdrawn entirely.
The Catholic Church is not Falun Gong. The PRC would do well to set the example; if they do not wish for Western powers to interfere in China, the Communists must respect the integrity of the Catholic Church.