China's state-run Catholic Church 'unacceptable' to Vatican

Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, S.D.B.

Function: Bishop of Hong Kong [Xianggang]

Title:

Birthdate: Jan 13, 1932	Country: Hong Kong

Elevated: Mar 24, 2006	More information: [link=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bzenz.html][www.catholic-hierarchy.org]

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China's state-run Catholic Church 'unacceptable' to Vatican
Apr 05, 2006
China's state-controlled Catholic Church will have to relinquish some of its control over Chinese Catholics if Sino-Vatican relations are to be established, Hong Kong's new cardinal said Saturday.

(AP, April 1, 2006) HONG KONG -- Cardinal Joseph Zen, an outspoken champion of religious freedom in China, said it was "unacceptable" for the official Patriotic Catholic Association to lead Chinese Catholics, who are barred from having contact with the Vatican.

China "should be able to see that all Catholic churches around the world are led by bishops. It cannot be led by another group," Zen told Hong Kong's RTHK radio station.

China forced its Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Communists took power. Beijing allows Catholics to worship only in places affiliated with the patriotic church.

However, tens of millions of Chinese are believed to worship in underground Catholic congregations that remain loyal to the pope, and priests and worshippers are regularly arrested and harassed.

The Vatican has said it wants to normalize relations with the communist nation, but Zen said there would have to be some changes first on China's part.

"Is there a promise that these practices could be corrected?" Zen asked.

The Patriotic Catholic Church made clear its distrust of Zen earlier this month, when one of its leaders questioned the Vatican's decision to appoint Zen as cardinal and said it could be an attempt to topple the Communist Party.

Zen said he expected to discuss relations with China when he next visits the Vatican, possibly as early as next month.

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