China rebuffs Vatican on religious freedom

(December 28, 2010) The Vatican must "face the facts" about religious freedom in China, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, rebuffing the pope's Christmas Day message which decried the persecution of Chinese Catholics. "We hope the Vatican can face the facts of China's religious freedom and the development of Catholicism in China, and take concrete actions to promote positive conditions for China-Vatican relations," ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news briefing. She did not elaborate. Pope Benedict on Christmas Day denounced limits on freedom of worship in China and encouraged Catholics there to persevere. An editorial on Monday in the English-language edition of the Global Times, run by Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, was more blunt it its criticism, saying the pope acted "more like a Western politician that a religious leader". China's 8 to 12 million Catholics are divided between the government-backed church known as the Catholic Patriotic Association, which names bishops without the Pope’s approval, and a repressed underground church faithful to the Pope. Earlier this month China defied the Pope when it forced several Chinese bishops and priests loyal to the pope to attend a meeting of the state-backed Church. In November, the Vatican condemned China for ordaining a bishop without the pope's approval, calling the episode a "painful wound" hampering dialogue between the Holy See and Beijing.