c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) In an open letter to Chinese Catholics on Saturday (June 30), Pope Benedict XVI called for unity among the faithful and offered conciliatory words to China’s communist government.

But he reiterated the Vatican’s longstanding demand that the Chinese church be free of state control, and emphatically described government-approved bishops as “illegitimate” unless their appointments are confirmed by Rome.

Benedict’s letter includes clear overtures to the Chinese authorities, reaffirming the Vatican’s desire to establish diplomatic relations, and emphasizing that Rome does not seek the overthrow of the communist system.

The official Xinhua news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang saying there is more to discuss than just who runs the church.

“China’s stance on improving relations with the Vatican is consistent. Namely, Vatican should sever the so-called diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognize the People’s Republic of China is the sole government representing China,” Qin said Saturday.

By addressing the situation in China directly, observers say Benedict is putting the burden on Beijing _ especially the “illegitimate” bishops in the state-controlled church _ to find a way forward.

“When he writes an actual letter to them, what will they do? Distribute it to their faithful? Ignore it? Or wait for further instructions from the governmental authorities?” said Raphaela M. T. Schmid, director of the Becket Institute in Rome, and writer-director of a new documentary film on religious freedom in China.

“The reception of the letter will say as much as the text itself about the current situation of the church.”

The letter is a response to more than half a century of conflict, both between the church and the Chinese state, and among Chinese Catholics themselves.

When communists took control in 1948, government officials promptly closed most churches and expelled or imprisoned almost all Catholic clergy. Within a decade, Beijing established the Catholic Patriotic Association to supervise an state-run church independent of the Vatican and consecrated the first bishops without the approval of Rome.

Since then, an “underground” church of Catholics loyal to the pope has grown up alongside the “official” church, which now claims 5 million members. The total number of Catholics in China today is estimated at 12-15 million.

Benedict’s letter pays tribute to the “grave sufferings” of the underground church, while urging all Catholics to seek “communion and … fraternal understanding, avoiding judgments and mutual condemnations.”

The letter even gives permission to underground Catholics to receive the sacraments from clergy “who are not in Communion with the Pope,” in cases where access to Vatican-approved clergy is impossible.

The Rev. Drew Christiansen, editor of America magazine and a former foreign policy adviser to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the “strong note on reconciliation within the church” is “typical of Benedict’s style _ pastoral and looking at what the actual problems are.”

“The tensions between the above-ground church and the underground church are still quite severe, especially in the countryside,” Christiansen said.

Leaders of the unofficial church welcomed the message, according to Joseph Kung of the Stamford, Conn.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation, which monitors religious freedom in China.

“One underground bishop in China wrote that he is extremely happy in reading this letter from the pope because God has used this opportunity to affirm that what they had done in the past was correct,” Kung said.

Although 90 percent of bishops in the state-approved church are said to have quietly obtained Rome’s confirmation of their appointments, not all have done so. Benedict also criticized the officially recognized College of Catholic Bishops of China, which supports the Patriotic Association’s independence from Rome.

Benedict’s stance toward the College could complicate the very dialogue that he professedly seeks, Christiansen said.

“How are they going to effect dialogue with the bishops, as a prelude to dialogue with the state, if they say that the bishops’ conference is not legitimate?” Christiansen said. “You have no mechanism there.”

But the pope clearly sees a bishops’ conference in communion with Rome as a non-negotiable precondition for closer relations.

That demand is not a matter of “abstract ecclesiological considerations” but of faith and morals in practice, said Schmid, who noted that the College of Bishops has supported the government’s policies on birth control, sterilization and the “one child policy enforced by abortion.”

KRE DS END ROCCA