CHINA

ORDINATION DAY: , outside St. Ignatius Cathedral on July 7, 2012, the day of his ordination as auxiliary bishop of . REUTERS/HANDOUT/UCANEWS.COM The bishop who stood up to China’s Communist Party-backed official thought it was installing its own man in Shanghai, the most important diocese. Instead, he spurned the party and sparked a crisis.

BY SUI-LEE WEE

SPECIAL REPORT 1 BISHOP WHO STOOD UP TO CHINA

SHANGHAI, APRIL 1, 2014

t was shaping as a win in the Communist Party’s quest to contain a longtime Inemesis, the Roman Catholic Church. In July 2012, a priest named Thaddeus Ma Daqin was to be ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai. The Communist body that has governed the church for six decades had angered the by ap- pointing bishops without Vatican approval. Known as the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, it was now about to install Ma, one of its own officials, as deputy in China’s largest Catholic diocese. “The anticipation was he would be a yes man,” says Jim Mulroney, a priest and editor of the -based Sunday Examiner, a Catholic newspaper. Instead, standing before a thousand CONFINEMENT: Thaddeus Ma has been confined to the Sheshan monastery on a mountain outside Catholics and government officials at Saint Shanghai since repudiating the official church in July 2012.REUTERS/ ALY SONG Ignatius Cathedral, Ma spurned the party: It wouldn’t be “convenient” for him to re- main in the Patriotic Association, he said. The anticipation was he from Beijing pass messages to the Vatican Many in the crowd erupted into thun- would be a yes man. either directly to Rome or through the derous applause. People wept. Ma had Vatican’s Charge d’Affaires in Hong Kong. switched sides – and a crisis was under way. The Rev. Jim Mulroney The emissaries are in contact with govern- The priest soon disappeared from public Editor of Hong Kong Catholic newspaper, ment or Communist Party authorities in view, instructed by the late bishop Aloysius Sunday Examiner China, said Father Jeroom Heyndrickx, Jin Luxian to move to a mountainside sem- from Catholic University in Leuven, inary outside Shanghai, where he has been defied the Patriotic Association. Belgium, who has previously acted as an confined for 20 months. He was stripped The Chinese government has privately unofficial emissary between Rome and of his new title, questioned by officials for signaled it could appoint Ma as the next Beijing. weeks and required to attend communist full bishop of Shanghai, a position now “I’m a little positive this time,” the indoctrination classes. vacant, and release two long-jailed bishops Vatican source said. “If this will happen, Ma’s renunciation of the association loyal to the Vatican, according to a source certainly the Vatican will take some steps forced into the open a struggle that had close to the Holy See. This person said sev- for China. After that I think it will be pos- been playing out for years. The Catholic eral people had conveyed that message to a sible to start a dialogue.” Church in China is divided into two com- Vatican official in private meetings. China has yet to send any public signal munities: an “official” church answerable Any change in Ma’s status is likely to be that it is willing to resume a dialogue with to the Party, and an “underground” church gradual, the Vatican source said, given op- the Vatican, and some hardliners in the that swears allegiance only to the pope in position from the Shanghai government, Catholic Church oppose any accommoda- Rome. The most contentious issue between still furious over Ma’s repudiation of the tion with China. them is which side controls the ordination official church. Beijing’s impasse with the Catholic of bishops. The source declined to specify the iden- Church also coincides with a broader There are tentative signs a thaw may be tities of the people carrying the messages to crackdown against dissident groups – in- possible. New leaders have been appointed the Vatican. Since the Vatican and China cluding Christians who go to “house in both the Vatican and China since Ma have no official ties, unofficial emissaries churches”, rights lawyers, academics and

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China’s faithful Catholics comprise a tiny but growing percentage of China’s population. Most Chinese profess Buddhism, Taoism or no faith at all.

DOMINANT RELIGION BY COUNTY Heilongjiang Catholicism Buddhism Islam Protestant Daoism and folk religion No dominant religion or no data

Shanxi Inner Mongolia Shaanxi

Hebei Tianjin Shandong

Sichuan Shanghai Hubei

Chongqing THREE COUNTRIES IN ASIA-PACIFIC WITH Guangdong THE LARGEST NUMBER Guangxi OF CHRISTIANS 2010 estimates Percentage of Total population that Catholic Protestant Christians is Christian 75.9 million 86.8 million 93.1% China 9.0 67.1 5.0% India 10.6 31.9 2.6%

Source: Professor Fenggang Yang, Center on Religion and Chinese Society, Purdue University; Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life

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activists – that have resulted in a spate of trials and detentions. China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs did not respond to re- quests for comment. “THERE ARE RELATIONS” has been silent on the stand- off, but he told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera this month he has exchanged let- ters with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first acknowledgment of communication since both men took office in late 2012. “There are relations,” Francis said, without elaborating on the exchange. Vatican watchers speculate Francis could visit Beijing this summer during a tour of Asia. If so, it would be the first by a pope to Chinese territory since the Communists took power in 1949. Since then, there have GROWING RELIGION: Christmas Mass at an official Catholic church near the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi been no bilateral diplomatic relations. province. Catholicism is one of the fastest growing religions in China with an estimated 9-12 million The Vatican’s new Secretary of State, members. REUTERS/JASON LEE , has also sounded an opti- mistic note. In February, he told Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops’ and met with Ma, who said that while he authority, especially those tied to a foreign Conference, that he is hopeful “trust and is allowed to chat with visitors as part of entity. understanding among the parties might his pastoral duties, he cannot accept media The Communist Party tried to force increase.” He added: “This might be con- interviews. Catholics to join the Catholic Patriotic cretely realized in the resumption of a con- Association when it was established in HUNGER FOR SPIRITUALITY structive dialogue with political authorities” 1957. Clergy and laity who refused to re- in China. For the Vatican, the stakes in China are nounce ties with the Vatican were impris- The Vatican did not respond to requests enormous: A population of nearly 1.4 bil- oned, beaten and some were even killed. for comment. lion lives in a society that hungers for spiri- The campaign drove Catholics loyal to the The enduring rupture, however, suggests tuality at a time when Catholicism’s tradi- pope underground, causing a split that re- any end to the standoff over bishop ap- tional stronghold in Europe is flagging. mains today. pointments may be a long way off. Ma’s re- The stakes are high for the Communist But nearly six decades of state control buff still stings, says Anthony Liu Bainian, Party, too. The Catholic Church is per- and sometimes brutal oppression has failed the layman who is the honorary chairman haps the largest non-party institution in to eradicate the underground Catholic of the Patriotic Association. Communist-led China. The church has community. Membership today is about “He deceived the bishops and cheated been in China since Jesuit missionaries first evenly divided between those who attend the government as well as the public,” Liu arrived in 1534, longer than the party, and China’s official and underground churches. said in an interview, in his first public re- it is growing. The number of Catholics has risen from an marks on the Ma case. “How can you then China officially recognizes five religions estimated 8 million in 1988 to about 12 take on the responsibility for such a large - Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity million today, according to Anthony Lam, diocese as Shanghai? This clearly shows and Catholicism - and supervises them a senior researcher at the Holy Spirit Study that (Ma) was under the influence of through state-run associations. The of- Centre in Hong Kong, an organ of the foreigners.” ficially atheist government is wary of any Diocese of Hong Kong. Reuters went to Sheshan Seminary organisation that might challenge its moral China’s State Administration for

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Religious Affairs counts 5.3 million Catholics as belonging to the Patriotic The underground resistance Association, which oversees 70 bishops and approximately 6,000 churches nationwide. But the lines are beginning to blur. TIANJIN, CHINA, APRIL 1, REUTERS his church, which is 120 kms (75 miles) Many underground churches are allowed southeast of Beijing. State security agents to operate with the tacit approval of local “Come in and have a look.” The welcoming and local police stop by every two weeks, officials. A new generation of Catholics, sign on the gates of a ramshackle building asking him to detail his activities, the priest less angered by a bitter past, will go to Mass with metal walls off a highway near this said. Once, police made him disperse a class at both underground and official churches. industrial city in northern China masks a he was teaching, telling him he was “not For Beijing, the ordination of bishops grim reality: this is an underground Catholic recognised” by the government. in the roughly 110 bishop seats in China church barely tolerated by Communist Party But the surveillance has eased off is its main lever of control over the church. authorities. recently, he said. “It has relaxed for about Rome, however, sees the ordination of “il- Inside, a 30-year-old priest tells hundreds a year or so. Perhaps this is to do with the licit” bishops as a trend that will weaken the of Catholics, some sitting cross-legged on change in (China’s) leadership.” validity of the Catholic Church in China. the floor because the pews are full, that he He recalled the decade he spent at an had just visited a parishioner, diagnosed underground seminary in Hebei province, QUIET DETENTE with cancer years ago and told he was soon where 10 seminarians used blankets to cover Ma was born in 1966 to a staunch Catholic the windows so they could study in secret. family in Shanghai. His grandfather and About 20 priests from the underground father both yearned to be priests but were Catholic church work in and around frustrated by the Communist takeover and Tianjin, the capital of Hebei province, which later the Cultural Revolution of 1966- surrounds Beijing and is a stronghold of 1976. Ma’s family lived directly opposite St. Catholicism in China, he said. Ignatius Cathedral, a gothic building built Authorities continue to exert pressure on by French Jesuits between 1905 and 1910. the underground clergy: At least five priests, Ma began attending Mass daily with all of them from Hebei, remain in prison, his parents at St. Ignatius after China said Or Yan Yan, project officer of the Justice eased government controls on religion in and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong the late 1970s. He studied at the Sheshan Catholic Diocese. The Hebei government and Seminary and became a priest in 1994, UNOFFICIAL PRAYER: A woman prays at an the State Administration for Religious Affairs going on to serve in each of Shanghai’s underground Catholic church near Tianjin. did not respond to requests for comment. Catholic churches. REUTERS/KIM KYUNG-HOON While local authorities have been more Ma always worked with the offi- tolerant of his church outside Tianjin, said cial church. He had risen to become the the priest, officials from the state-backed vice-chairman of Shanghai’s Patriotic going to die. “But because of his faith, he China Catholic Patriotic Association have Association. is still alive and he told me how important been relentless in their opposition. Almost For most of the last decade, the party believing was, how it kept him going,” the every day for the past two years, these and the Vatican tried to accommodate each priest says. officials have come by, trying to persuade other’s views on the crucial issue of bishop This underground Catholic church, which him to join the association. appointments (except in 2006 when the has no name, is a testament to the Roman “They threatened to arrest me and that two sides clashed over the appointment of Catholic Church’s ability to survive as well - I would have to go to jail,” the priest said. “I three bishops). A bishop in China’s official outside the control of the Communist Party. told them: ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do it. My faith church is supposed to be “elected” by lo- The priest, who declined to be identified, tells me I can’t do it’.” cal priests, nuns and some laymen, and the said his church has been operating since The Patriotic Association did not respond government and the Vatican usually agreed 1989 and now has a congregation of 1,500 to a request for comment. on the choice. to 2,000. That arrangement began to break down Authorities strictly monitor him and - Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee

SPECIAL REPORT 5 BISHOP WHO STOOD UP TO CHINA

CHINA’S SCHISM: Catholics pray at small underground church in Tianjin China (L). A priest from the Patriotic Association teaches a catechism class at the officially approved Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing. REUTERS/KIM KYUNG-HOON AND PETAR KUJUNDZIC

in 2010, when the Patriotic Association ordained without approval by the Vatican. “laying on of hands” ritual that is meant to appointed four bishops who had not been Ma had been close to Shanghai’s of- invoke the Holy Spirit during an ordina- approved by the Vatican. Rome excommu- ficial Bishop, Aloysius Jin Luxian, who died tion. Zhan and two other bishops were also nicated three of them, a move that hadn’t on April 27, 2013 at the age of 96. Jin him- supposed to perform the ritual. But Ma been taken against a Chinese bishop since self had walked a fine line between Beijing prevented them from putting their hands 1951. Beijing called the excommunications and Rome, spending nearly three decades on his head by rising from his knees and “unreasonable and rude”. under house arrest, in reeducation camps hugging the three bishops instead. Zhan After that, local authorities sent police and in prison before joining the official did not respond to requests for comment. to escort Vatican-appointed bishops to church. Ma then strode to the pulpit, and refer- attend official church ordinations and de- Jin was criticized at times for being too ring to the crowd of priests and nuns out- tained other bishops loyal to Rome ahead close to the government after his release side, said: “Today, from our diocese, there of the ceremonies. from prison. But his accommodation with are several brothers, sisters, priests and nuns Yet a truce still seemed possible. On the government seemed to have soured who were not able to attend due to various July 4, 2012, three days before Ma’s ordi- when Zhan was one of those named to help reasons. I would like to say, I love them.” nation, a spokesman for the government’s officiate at the ceremony. He spoke about the need to focus on Religious Affairs Bureau said China was Jin convened a meeting of Shanghai’s pastoral duties - working with parishioners “willing to enter into consultations with the priests and nuns and told them to “act ac- - in his new role as bishop, as opposed to Vatican on issues including the ordination cording to your conscience” when it came the bureaucratic duties that come with the of bishops.” to attending the ordination. job as a Patriotic Association bishop. “Bishop Jin was so furious,” said “Therefore, starting from this day of AN EXTRAORDINARY SCENE Cardinal , a Shanghai-born for- consecration, I will no longer find it con- Then, on July 7, 2012, came Ma’s ordina- mer bishop of Hong Kong. “He called all venient to be a member of the Patriotic tion. By all accounts, it was an extraordi- the priests and said: ‘I did all I could but Association,” he said. nary scene at Saint Ignatius Cathedral they are still trying to impose this illegiti- MUST ‘TRULY REPENT’ that day. Scores of priests and nuns had mate bishop (Zhan), so I will do all my best gathered outside the cathedral to protest to humiliate this fellow.’”. It isn’t clear what led Ma to turn against the against the participation in the ceremony And, from the view of the official church, Patriotic Association that day. Priests who of Vincent Zhan Silu, a bishop loyal to that is what transpired. Shanghai Bishop knew Ma said that while he was close to the Patriotic Association who had been Jin and two other bishops performed the Jin the official bishop, he also admired the

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Shanghai underground bishop, Joseph Fan China understands this,” said the Catholic Zhongliang, who died on March 16. And University of Leuven’s Heyndrickx. both of those bishops objected to Zhan’s The Vatican has previously signaled a participation in the ceremony. willingness to cut diplomatic relations with The Patriotic Association’s honorary - a condition China has imposed chairman Liu, who wasn’t in attendance for the resumption of diplomatic ties with that day, was furious. “When they told me the Holy See. In 2005, the-then Vatican about this matter, I said: ‘It’s finished, it’s Secretary of State, , said the finished,” he said in the interview. Ma’s ac- Vatican was ready to move its diplomatic tions “violated church regulations.” office from Taiwan to Beijing if China Asked whether Ma could eventually be agreed to uphold religious freedom. a full bishop, as the Vatican source has sug- A Taiwanese foreign ministry spokes- gested, Liu said that Ma was “a talented woman, Anna Kao, said Taiwan and the person” but has to “truly repent. He first has INDOCTRINATION: Thaddeus Ma giving Vatican maintain official diplomatic ties to understand and recognize his mistake.” communion at a Mass at Sheshan Cathedral in and Taipei has “heard no news to the Beijing has to take a stricter line with April 2012. Ma has been out of the public eye and contrary”. Catholics than other religions because of getting political indoctrination since his stunning Ma remains at the Sheshan Seminary. past actions by the church, Liu said, refer- repudiation of the official church.REUTERS/ He regularly posts blog items for the faith- ring to former Pope John Paul’s sweeping HANDOUT UCANEWS ful, mostly excerpts from scripture and apology in 2000 for the Church’s history of greetings to his flock. violence, persecution and blunders. In a December 6 post, shortly after the “Especially now that foreign ruling last October that he had not heard a reply death of Nelson Mandela, the priest cited powers want to contain the development of from Beijing. one of the South African liberation leader’s China, they must also want to use religion most famous quotations: “Freedom is indi- THE JESUIT POPE to sow discord,” Liu said. visible; the chains on any one of my people The Vatican tried to look for a diplo- Ma’s “patriotic education” classes ended were the chains on all of them, the chains matic solution after Ma’s act of defiance. In last August, according to the source close on all my people were the chains on me.” October 2012, three months after the St. to the Vatican. The Patriotic Association, His quarters, which he shares with a Ignatius ceremony, Rome proposed “a new meanwhile, has not ordained any bishops half-dozen priests, overlook a lush bamboo way for dialogue”, calling for a “bilateral for over a year, a development the source forest. In one room, a photo of the retired commission for relations”, similar to ones called “a good signal”. Pope Benedict hangs on a wall and a small between China and Taiwan and between The change of leadership in Rome may Chinese flag sits on a desk. the Vatican and communist Vietnam. help, Vatican watchers say. They note that The author of the proposal, Cardinal Pope Francis is a Jesuit, the first-ever pon- Editing by Bill Tarrant and Michael Williams , is a China expert who tiff from the Catholic order that established heads the Vatican department that deals the church in China. According to Cardinal with missions. In a letter to Beijing outlin- Filoni, Pope Francis has in his room a stat- ing his proposal, Cardinal Filoni listed the ue of “Our Lady of Sheshan” - the Chinese stumbling blocks to better ties: the “sharp- icon of Mother Mary whose main shrine is ened control of the state over the Church” at the seminary outside Shanghai. FOR MORE INFORMATION since 2010 and the “heavy interference of Parolin, the new secretary Sui-Lee Wee , China correspondent the civil authorities over the appointment of state, was the Vatican’s chief negotiator [email protected] of bishops.” Bishop Ma’s detention was “the with China in 2007. Bill Tarrant, Asia Enterprise Editor latest worrying sign,” he wrote. “The Vatican, by appointing this man as [email protected] Filoni declined to comment for this re- a secretary of state, that in itself is a state- Michael Williams, Global Enterprise Editor port. He told the Italian news agency Ansa ment that it wants dialogue, and I think [email protected]

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