Hong Kong, China – Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow will embark on his first official go to to China on Monday, however is “unlikely” to satisfy representatives from the mainland’s “underground” church buildings, a spokesperson mentioned, amid persevering with strains between Beijing and the Vatican over the governance of the nation’s Catholics.
Chow would be the first Hong Kong bishop – the pinnacle of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong and overseen by the Vatican – to make an official go to to the mainland since 1994.
He will likely be accompanied by two senior church officers following an invite from his Beijing counterpart Joseph Li Shan, in keeping with a church assertion.
In response to Al Jazeera’s inquiries, a spokesperson on the Hong Kong Catholic diocese’s communications workplace mentioned Li, who took up the put up two years in the past, was invited to the mainland in 2022.
However the journey solely turned doable as soon as Beijing lifted its COVID-19 journey restrictions late final 12 months.
The Hong Kong delegation’s mission is to “promote exchanges and interactions” between church buildings in mainland China and the worldwide Catholic group, the spokesperson added.
The Vatican has lengthy been at odds with Beijing over the Catholic Church in China, the place the Communist Celebration is cautious of any mass organisations over which it has no direct management.
Catholic church buildings in mainland China should register with and function underneath the state-affiliated Catholic Patriotic Affiliation, an organisation overseen by the celebration’s United Work Entrance Division and led by Li, that the Vatican doesn’t recognise.
Professor Tobias Brandner, affiliate director of the Divinity College of Chung Chi School on the Chinese language College of Hong Kong, described Chow’s journey as “overdue”.
“Twenty-nine years … is an extended interval of no (official) visits, which in itself could also be uncommon,” Brandner mentioned, including that there had been official visits by the Protestant church in Hong Kong throughout that point.
Religions should ‘adapt’
In March, China’s new Premier Li Qiang instructed the Nationwide Folks’s Congress it was mandatory for the celebration to “actively information religions to adapt to socialist society” and mentioned the method had been happening steadily.
Church buildings on the mainland that resist state rules often meet in secret with these working what are often known as “underground church buildings” working the chance of fines and jail time.
Whereas Chow could contact on varied points throughout the journey, the spokesperson mentioned: “It’s unlikely that he’ll go to the so-called ‘underground church buildings’ in Beijing.”
In line with the Chinese language authorities, there are greater than 5.5 million Catholics within the nation. Organisations outdoors of mainland China, such because the Pew Analysis Middle and Hong Kong’s Holy Spirit Examine Centre, put the Catholic inhabitants nearer to 10 million, bearing in mind those that don’t attend the “official” church buildings.
Whereas there are not any formal diplomatic relations between Beijing and the Vatican, the 2 sides got here to a provisional settlement over the appointment of bishops in China in 2018.
The contents of the settlement have by no means been made public, however it reportedly allowed the Vatican to formally appoint bishops in China, whereas China has additionally recognised the pope because the supreme chief of the Catholic Church.
Whereas the lengthy hole since a Hong Kong bishop final visited the mainland could be defined by the pandemic, Brandner mentioned Beijing’s opposition to Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun, who led the Catholic church in Hong Kong from 2002 to 2009 and has been outspoken in his criticism of Beijing’s efforts to regulate faith, might also have been an element.
Zen rejected the 2018 settlement and can be a outstanding supporter of democracy. He was considered one of six individuals discovered responsible final November of failing to register a help fund established to offer authorized assist to these arrested throughout 2019’s mass pro-democracy protests.
“Their mainland Chinese language [counterparts] wouldn’t have been equally welcoming of Zen,” Brandner mentioned.
Whereas the invitation had come from the Beijing diocese, as a substitute of the Chinese language authorities, Brandner mentioned it will solely quantity to a “distinction in ritual”, given Li’s shut ties with the federal government.
The final go to to happen in an official capability was in 1994 when Cardinal John Wu Cheng-chung visited three cities in mainland China.
Mok Chit-wai, a commentator on Hong Kong non secular affairs, expects Chow’s journey to have extra of a symbolic that means than an precise impact on Sino-Vatican ties.
Within the present worldwide local weather, Mok mentioned it will be to Beijing’s benefit to take care of working relations with the Vatican, which is a sovereign state in Europe.
“I’m extra liable to argue that Beijing needs to cross on sure messages to the Holy See by the Hong Kong delegates. However what messages? I can’t inform,” he mentioned.
Mok additionally mentioned that Sino-Vatican relations remained strained, regardless of the extension of the 2018 settlement amid unresolved points regarding the Catholic religion in China, such because the appointment of bishops and creation of dioceses.
In November final 12 months, the pope issued an announcement expressing “shock and remorse” at Chinese language authorities’ transfer to make Peng Weizhao the auxiliary bishop of Jiangxi, a diocese that the Vatican doesn’t recognise.
The Vatican assertion learn that the appointment had “not taken place in conformity with the spirit of dialogue that exists between the Vatican events and the Chinese language events” and had run towards the Sino-Vatican settlement.
This month, Beijing introduced a brand new bishop for Shanghai, the nation’s greatest Catholic diocese. The Vatican mentioned that appointment was additionally made with out its approval.
