(December 22, 2010) The Chinese government Wednesday has criticised the Vatican’s
attack on China’s policy of religious freedom as “very imprudent and ungrounded.”
It was Beijing’s first official response to the communiqué published by Vatican five
days ago, in which it expresses profound sorrow over the Eighth National Congress
of Catholic Representatives in Beijing. Xinhua News Agency quoted a spokesperson
of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) as saying the Vatican misunderstood
the current situation of the China Church and was trying to use religion to implement
its political values. The official said this would bring serious harm to the healthy
development of the China Church. The SARA spokesperson stressed that the national
congress does not touch on Catholic doctrine, does not violate the fundamentals of
Catholic faith and does not need recognition of other countries or foreign organizations.
The new heads of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Bishops’ Conference
of the Catholic Church in China were elected by overwhelming majority, reflecting
wishes and expectations of the congress participants, the spokesperson continued.
The Vatican’s condemnation of them was “a violent trample and contempt” to the democratic
wish of numerous Catholics and “extremely rude and disrespectful behaviour.” The spokesperson
ended with the remarks that the Chinese government hopes that the Vatican be cautious
and self-restraint in order not to worsen relations between the two sides and return
to dialogue on the right track. The Vatican had forwarded its objection over the appointment
of Bishops by the Government and the forcing of Catholics to attend the Beijing Meeting.