Setback for China – Vatican Relations

Chengde: illicit Episcopal ordination, the first in four years

Beijing (AsiaNews) - The vice-president of the Patriotic Association, Liu Bainain confirmed to the media that the ordination of Fr Joseph Guo Jincai as Bishop of Chengde (Hebei) will take place tomorrow November 20. The ordination of the 42-year old priest, the first in the last four years, and the obligation of certain bishops to attend were criticized by the Vatican yesterday as "serious violations of freedom of religion and conscience" and "harmful" to the constructive relations between China and the Holy See.

Continue reading at  Asia News

Cuba opens first Catholic seminary since the revolution

 4 November 2010. BBC News

Cuban President Raul Castro has attended the inauguration of the first new Catholic building on the communist island in more than half a century.

Mr Castro joined priests, including Vatican officials, at a new seminary outside of the capital, Havana.

Ties between the Roman Catholic Church and state soured in the aftermath of the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Continue reading at BBC News - Cuba opens first Catholic seminary since the revolution

NORTH KOREA About 23 Christians arrested, 3 executed

6th August 2010 – Asia News

Seoul (AsiaNews) – North Korea’s Stalinist regime has discovered some underground Christians in a house church in Pyongan Province. All 23 who met to celebrate a religious function were arrested. Three were tried and given the death penalty, which was swiftly executed, sources told AsiaNews. Confirmation about the incident also came from the North Korea Intellectual Solidarity, a group of North Korean exiles.

According to the sources, the arrests and executions were carried out in mid-May. “At that time, right after the disastrous currency reform, police discovered 23 Christians in Kuwal-dong, Pyungsung County, in Pyongan Province, who met at an underground church. After their arrest, they were interrogated at length. Eventually, the group’s “ringleaders” were sentenced to death and executed. The others were sent to Kwan-li-so (Penal labour colony) No 15 in Yodŏk.”

These North Koreans discovered underground Christianity when some of them travelled to mainland China for work.

“As the authorities fear the spread of religion, many area residents are rounded up and interrogated for days,” the sources said. However, “they cannot help it because the situation is so desperate that people are going back to religion. Such sentences are meant to scare people.”

North Korea denies freedom of religion absolutely. Officially, the country has three Christian places of worship (one Catholic and two Protestant churches) and four Buddhist temples, but only in the capital Pyongyang. No one has been able to confirm how many exist in the rest of the country. Accounts about their number by foreigners who have travelled around the country vary.

The only cult allowed is that of ‘Eternal President’ Kim Il-sung and his son, the ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-il.

After the Korean War in 1953, the Stalinist regime ruthlessly proceeded to kill the country’s estimated 200,000 Catholics, and destroy their churches and abbeys.

Sources have told AsiaNews that in North Korea there are “no more than 200 Catholics left, all very old”.

NORTH KOREA About 23 Christians arrested, 3 executed - Asia News

Holy See and Russia establish full diplomatic ties

Vatican City, Jul 28, 2010 / 11:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).

Just under two weeks ago Russian officials accepted the credentials of Archbishop Antonio Mennini as the first papal nuncio to their country. The event ushers in a new era of full diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Russian Federation.

The Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano (LOR) newspaper reported that Foreign Affairs minister Sergei Lavrov met with Archbishop Mennini on July 15 in Moscow to seal full diplomatic relations, which Pope Benedict XVI and president Dmitry Medvedev had agreed to last December. Just a month ago, on June 26, the Holy See accepted the credentials of Mr. Nikolai Sadlichov as ambassador from Russia.

Continue reading at Catholic News Agency (CNA)

CHINA Xiwanzi underground priest arrested again after three years in prison - Asia News

Beijing (AsiaNews) July 2010.

On July 24th authorities in northern Hebei province arrested Fr. Peter Wang, a priest of the Diocese of Xiwanzi. The priest was stopped immediately after being released from prison, where he spent the last three years for having celebrated a Mass with government permission. The authorities want to force Fr. Wang to join the Patriotic Association.

According Ucanews.com, some relatives of the priest were waiting - along with about 20 lay people of the diocese - outside the gates of the Tangshang Jidong prison. As the gates opened at 4 am, Fr. Wang was able to take only a few steps before being grabbed by 4 men, who pushed him into a car and brought him back into the prison.

About an hour after the gates were reopened to allow two police cars pass. The crowd stopped the car to talk to the priest. According to one source, Fr. Wang told them "not to create problems with the police. He added that he was in good health and asked us to let him go". Several hours later, he phoned his sister to say that he was "doing well".

Catholics believe that local authorities would like Fr. Wang to “work in the light of the day by accepting the authority of the government run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association". The fast "re-arrest," they explain, comes from the fact that the police fear that the faithful will hide and protect him once back home.

Continue reading CHINA Xiwanzi underground priest arrested again after three years in prison at Asia News

Wikipedia entry on the Communist backed Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.

China’s Divided Catholics Seek Reconciliation

NPR July 20, 2010. Second of five parts

For decades, China's Catholics — estimated at more than 12 million — have been bitterly divided. Some worship in China's government-sanctioned Catholic churches, others in "underground" churches loyal to the Vatican.

But three years ago, Pope Benedict XVI sent a letter to Chinese Catholics — the first from a pope in more than a half-century — urging reconciliation. Yet China's Catholics have struggled to follow these instructions.

Early morning in Sheshan, on the outskirts of Shanghai, Catholics kneel on the ground in front of the pilgrimage shrine to the Virgin Mary, known as the Marian shrine. A cacophony of prayer rises as different groups of pilgrims conduct their services, singing hymns of praise almost loud enough to drown each other out.

Continue reading China’s Divided Catholics Seek Reconciliation : NPR

An Interview with Archbishop Basil Georges Casmoussa, Archbishop of Mosul for the Syrian Catholic Church in Iraq.

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) News - Interview on 19/7/2010.
Since the first century Christians have been present in Iraq and have contributed actively to the cultural development of the Arab world. Today Christians make up only 3% of the Iraqi population. Rev. Basil Georges Casmoussa is the Archbishop of Mosul for the Syrian Catholic Church. In 2005 he was abducted at gunpoint only to be released 24 hours later unharmed.
Continue reading - An Interview with the Archbishop Basil Georges Casmoussa

Tension in Venezuelan between Church and State

CARACAS, Venezuela, JULY 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).-

The Venezuelan bishops are denouncing the "unjust aggressions" of President Hugo Chávez against the Catholic Church.
Chávez leveled verbal attacks against Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas, and the entire Venezuelan episcopate during the nation's July 5 independence day celebrations.
The cardinal issued a written response on July 9, in which he spoke out against the "unconstitutional" and "illegal" actions of Chávez, in violation of the rights of the Venezuelan people.
Cardinal Urosa, who was in Rome at the time, returned to Caracas on July 11. The next day, the Venezuelan bishops' conference issued a statement at the close of their plenary assembly, expressing support for the cardinal and concern over the aggression of the state authorities.
"We reject the reiterated and unjust aggressions by the president of the republic against persons and institutions, wounding also the religious sentiment of several confessions," stated the bishops' communiqué.
It underlined the expectation that "top executives and officials" would "give example of the respect that all the citizens deserve."

Continue reading at Catholic.net - Catholics on the net

Chavez Calls for Review of Ties With Catholic Church - BusinessWeek

July 14 2010 (Bloomberg)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered a review of ties with the Roman Catholic Church after his policies were criticized by church leaders in recent weeks.

Chavez called local officials led by Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino “troglodytes, cavemen and fascists.” He said that the Catholic Church acts as if it has special privileges in the country, and called on the Foreign Ministry to review agreements with the church and to contact the Vatican.

“With all due respect to the Vatican and pope, you’re not an ambassador of Christ, Christ doesn’t need an ambassador,” Chavez said today on state television. “The bishops and cardinals think they are above the state -- come down from that cloud, cavemen.”

Continue reading Chavez Calls for Review of Ties With Catholic Church – BusinessWeek

Image courtesy of Agencia Brasil.

Vatican, China OK new bishop as relations warm

 The Associated Press: Vatican, China OK new bishop as relations warm

15 July 2010

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican and the Chinese government have approved the consecration of a new bishop for Taizhou in a sign of warming ties.

The Vatican said Wednesday 75-year-old Msgr. Antonio Xu Jiwei was named bishop over the weekend in a ceremony presided over by four other bishops who similarly are in communion with Rome and are recognized by China's official church.

China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951. Worship is allowed only in state-backed churches, but millions of Chinese belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI has prioritized improving relations with Beijing and reconciling the two churches. In recent years a compromise has been reached under which both Beijing and Rome agree on bishop candidates.

CHINA - VATICAN New bishop of Sanyuan, approved by the Vatican - Asia News

By Zhen Yuan - June 24th 2010

Sanyuan (AsiaNews) - Mgr Joseph Han Yingjin was ordained today, the Solemnity of St. John the Baptist, as the new bishop of Sanyuan (Shaanxi). His ordination was approved by the Holy See and took place in the church of the Sacred Heart in Yuanmenxiang. The Bishop, speaking to AsiaNews, said he wants to strengthen evangelization, faith formation and social services, as well as strengthen the bonds of communion among priests.

Bishop Han was the fourth Vatican approved bishop to be ordained in China since last April, after those of Hohhot, Haimen and Xiamen. Unlike what happened in the past, this time all the bishop concelebrants were in communion with the Holy See.

Continue reading at Asia News.

Vatican Official Meets With Cuban President Castro - ZENIT

 HAVANA, Cuba, JUNE 21, 2010 (Zenit.org).

A top official from the Vatican Secretariat of State ended his six-day visit to Cuba Sunday in a meeting with President Raúl Castro.
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states, began his visit on June 15, marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of relations between the Holy See and Cuba.
During the Sunday afternoon meeting with Castro, the officials highlighted the celebration of this anniversary.
The prelate and the president also spoke about other topics of the international scene, which were not specified to the public, reported the Cuban agency Prensa Latina.
Also present at the meeting was the apostolic nuncio in Cuba, Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, and the Cuban foreign relations minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
Continue reading at ZENIT

Vietnamese delegation for diplomatic relations with Vatican in Rome - Asia News

by Nguyen Hung, 21st June 2010

Hanoi (AsiaNews) – A Vietnamese government delegation is in Rome for the second meeting of the "Joint Working Group" between Vietnam and the Vatican, which has the official aim of continuing the process of normalization of diplomatic relations.
The delegation, says the government press, is led by deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Thanh Son and includes officials from the Ministry for Public Security and the Committee for Religious Affairs.

Continue reading at Asia News.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center - Imposing our Beliefs on Others

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D
Recently I was asked to speak in Virginia at legislative hearings about embryonic stem cell research. After I gave my testimony, one of the senators asked a pointed question. "Father Tad, by arguing against embryonic stem cell research, don't you see how you are trying to impose your beliefs on others, and shouldn't we as elected lawmakers avoid imposing a narrow religious view on the rest of society?" The senator's question was an example of the fuzzy thinking that has become commonplace in recent years within many state legislatures and among many lawmakers.
Continue reading at the National Catholic Bioethics Center (USA)