by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò at LifeSite News
Millions of persecuted Chinese Catholics face betrayal by a corrupt clergy backing Beijing’s communist regime, compromising the Catholic faith and independence of the Church.
(LifeSiteNews) — The following is a “Declaration on the secret Sino-Vatican Agreement” issued by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.
The violation of the Sino-Vatican Agreement
AsiaNews Agency has reported that on April 28 the diocesan clergy of Shanghai elected Father Wu Jianlin as their bishop. The same thing happened on April 29, with the election of Father Li Janlin as bishop of the Diocese of Xinxiang. Both appointments, coming from the schismatic “patriotic church,” were made in clear violation of the terms of the secret agreement that the Vatican signed with the Beijing government in 2018 and renewed in 2020, 2022, and 2024 for four years.
The clauses of this agreement – which is officially secret, although some details have leaked out – are said to provide on the one hand that the Holy See recognizes the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association as part of the Catholic Church and that the Chinese Communist Party has the authority to appoint its bishops; and on the other hand that the pope should be recognized to have – at least in theory – the right to veto such appointments and to ratify the removal of legitimate bishops that the Communist Party intends to replace with other bishops of its own nomination.
The praxis of the Holy See contradicted by Jorge Bergoglio
If the Holy See, up to and including the pontificate of Benedict XVI, did not agree to sign agreements with China, it is because the differences concern doctrinal and canonical aspects that no pope can elude or modify in their substance. The Chinese “patriotic church” is a schismatic state entity, whose “bishops” are not appointed with papal approval. As long as the Chinese communist government insists on continuing to interfere in the jurisdiction of the Holy See by nominating its own “bishops” and deposing those nominated by the pope, no agreement is possible.
This led to an open persecution of Catholics – lay people, clergy, and bishops – to…
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