I bet Mongolia got that feeling you get at a party when the person you are talking to suddenly spots someone more interesting over your shoulder and starts trying to catch their eye.
"Perhaps that dream could be made a reality by Francis’ relentless optimism, aided by the Vatican’s bearing with the CCP’s effective nationalization of the local Church, praising the state doctrine of the Sinicization of religion, and effectively turning a blind eye to the persecution of local Catholics and arrest of faithful bishops."
I do wonder if there are any limits to what Pope Francis would sacrifice to fulfill his goals with regards to China. When I think of this situation, it always reminds me of this meme:
“I think we need to move forward in the religious aspect to understand each other better, and so that Chinese citizens do not think that the Church does not accept their culture and values and that the Church is dependent on another, foreign power.”
This is...a disappointing statement to put it mildly. The Church is not here to baptize China's, or any other country's for that matter, "culture and values" as they are today. If that were the case we would all still be practicing pagans. The Church is here to uplift every culture to a higher level and to prune what must be pruned. The communists will understand this as "not accepting their culture and values" - and they'd be right to a certain extent.
The Roman Catholic Church must be extremely cautious with any overtures to or concessions with the CCP. Chinese people are mostly wonderful, but they suffer under a terrible regime of Chinese style nationalism and communism. The CCP are proven infiltrators, spies, and outright liars about their true intentions. One infamous tactic of the CCP is to begin with the warm embrace of friendship, and then to slowly, but surely, squeeze tighter and tighter like a python, until strangling and destroying its counterpart. We have seen this happen with unfair trade, with the theft of military, aerospace and computer technology, through the infiltration of universities, entertainment, and social media, and mostly recently with the lying and obfuscation about the origins of Covid. In my thinking - and I mean no disrespect to the Holy Father or his diplomatic team - it is naive and dangerous to think the Vatican can cozy up to the CCP without causing possible increased persecution to the underground Catholic Church in China, and for that matter, damage to the entire Church in the East Asiatic "Sinosphere" which includes Mongolia, Japan, Guam, Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. The CCP's influence and hegemony is far too powerful to oppose without a counter-ability to force concessions or special status treatment. It may last for a year or two, but then it will end when the Chinese get even more control of the episcopacy. The CCP government has no need of any concessions the Vatican might be able to offer, but they do now have the ability to entirely disrupt and displace the influence of the Holy See (which the CCP sees as a Western, and foreign negative influence) from the region.
I bet Mongolia got that feeling you get at a party when the person you are talking to suddenly spots someone more interesting over your shoulder and starts trying to catch their eye.
Francis talks like a jerk and acts like a jerk.
you are really projecting now, brother.
"Perhaps that dream could be made a reality by Francis’ relentless optimism, aided by the Vatican’s bearing with the CCP’s effective nationalization of the local Church, praising the state doctrine of the Sinicization of religion, and effectively turning a blind eye to the persecution of local Catholics and arrest of faithful bishops."
I do wonder if there are any limits to what Pope Francis would sacrifice to fulfill his goals with regards to China. When I think of this situation, it always reminds me of this meme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwOXhivY1Uc
Not to mention the prohibition on those under the age of 18 attending Mass.
“I think we need to move forward in the religious aspect to understand each other better..."
So says our Holy Father.
Does the appointment of government approved lackeys and puppets as bishops "move forward in the religious aspect?"
Or does it put the faithful in the hands of wolves in shepherd's clothing?
This is no JPII we're talking about, here. Not even someone who respects JPII.
“I think we need to move forward in the religious aspect to understand each other better, and so that Chinese citizens do not think that the Church does not accept their culture and values and that the Church is dependent on another, foreign power.”
This is...a disappointing statement to put it mildly. The Church is not here to baptize China's, or any other country's for that matter, "culture and values" as they are today. If that were the case we would all still be practicing pagans. The Church is here to uplift every culture to a higher level and to prune what must be pruned. The communists will understand this as "not accepting their culture and values" - and they'd be right to a certain extent.
The Roman Catholic Church must be extremely cautious with any overtures to or concessions with the CCP. Chinese people are mostly wonderful, but they suffer under a terrible regime of Chinese style nationalism and communism. The CCP are proven infiltrators, spies, and outright liars about their true intentions. One infamous tactic of the CCP is to begin with the warm embrace of friendship, and then to slowly, but surely, squeeze tighter and tighter like a python, until strangling and destroying its counterpart. We have seen this happen with unfair trade, with the theft of military, aerospace and computer technology, through the infiltration of universities, entertainment, and social media, and mostly recently with the lying and obfuscation about the origins of Covid. In my thinking - and I mean no disrespect to the Holy Father or his diplomatic team - it is naive and dangerous to think the Vatican can cozy up to the CCP without causing possible increased persecution to the underground Catholic Church in China, and for that matter, damage to the entire Church in the East Asiatic "Sinosphere" which includes Mongolia, Japan, Guam, Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. The CCP's influence and hegemony is far too powerful to oppose without a counter-ability to force concessions or special status treatment. It may last for a year or two, but then it will end when the Chinese get even more control of the episcopacy. The CCP government has no need of any concessions the Vatican might be able to offer, but they do now have the ability to entirely disrupt and displace the influence of the Holy See (which the CCP sees as a Western, and foreign negative influence) from the region.