Friday, March 29, AD 2024 7:51am

PopeWatch: Archbishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo on the China Deal

Our old friend Archbishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo is sounding off on the China Deal:

 

Critics of the long-waited agreement between China and the Vatican on the appointment of bishop are merely a “loud minority,” a Vatican bishop said Friday.

“They are very strong in their position. They are loud, but there are not very many of them. They are a loud minority,” said Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, also chancellor of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

He made the remarks when asked to comment on a reported deal between China and the Vatican on the appointment of bishops, which critics say is a deal that “sells out” the Holy See.

“In our interpretation, the critics are a little minority group of people, people who wanted to create trouble,” the bishop told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Friday.

Sorondo explained the importance of having this deal, or having China better involved in the Catholic world, is that “the country has a large population with good quality people, it observes the common good and it has proved its ability to great missions like fighting against poverty and pollution.”

Sorondo said that he agrees that the deal is the first step to get China and the Vatican into a formal and regular pattern of communication, which is praiseworthy.

Go here to read the rest.  Earlier this year Sorondo claimed that China was a paragon of the social justice teaching of the Church.  Go here to read about it.  Keep in mind that China is currently engaged in the worst persecution of religious believers since the Cultural Revolution.  PopeWatch tends to view the current gang at the Vatican as buffoons, and they certainly are that.  However, it should not be forgotten that they are also evil buffoons.  They joyfully link arms with some of the worst governments on Earth, and then babble lies to justify their selling out of Catholics and the Faith.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
4 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
father of seven
father of seven
Tuesday, September 25, AD 2018 5:00am

China harvests organs from healthy, living human beings. It does this to fulan gong practitioners, prisoners and others. I suppose if Marcelo Sorondo were added to the list, he might think differently about giving control of Christ’s church to communist thugs. Then again, maybe he just plans on healing everything with his mouth.

Bob Kurland, Ph.D.
Admin
Tuesday, September 25, AD 2018 6:46am

sigh, more fools, more evil-doing fools in positions of power. How long, O Lord, how long.

Ye Olde Scribe
Ye Olde Scribe
Tuesday, September 25, AD 2018 8:42am

This is a variation of the old leftist strategy, “These are people [who object to the deal] of no influence.” That is, they can be ignored….and we elitists can do whatever we please.

PRM
PRM
Tuesday, September 25, AD 2018 9:41am

Bishop Sorondo might also point out that perhaps most of these loud critics have been Chinese Catholics themselves, not merely overseas or in the underground but in the official Church itself (since virtually all Chinese Catholics want unity with Rome and the universal church and less interference from the authorities–and while there are often (but not always) strong resentments between underground and official communities, and disagreements on the appropriate mixture of principle and expediency, there are many in the official church who recognize that the existence of the underground strengthens the bargaining position of the faithful as a whole.

The Vatican position is that this deal (about which only those directly involved know the details of, and the rest of us are they likely to be informed any time soon) enhances the changes for “dialogue” and greater advances in religious liberty over the long run. The Chinese expression for this: Bargaining with the tiger for his hide. Perhaps the strongest rationale for reaching a deal now is that the new laws effecting religion enacted this year seem directed at an outright eradication of the Christian underground, not just Catholics but especially Protestant evangelicals, growing outside their official churches (another expression) like bamboo shoots after the rain. In the past Christians have been able to ride out this sort of thing, and I think there is legitimate room for disagreement on the wiser course. But it is probably not a decision outsiders should make.

But–on outsiders. It is notable that in this negotiation all of the Chinese ecclesiastics, including those working in the Vatican itself, have been excluded or marginalized. And it is hard to avoid the impression that the real impetus is the desire for glory and a sense of accomplishment, with luck, credit for a historical landmark, for the Holy Father and especially his Secretary of State.

The old Borgia and Medici popes, whether in heaven, hell, or Purgatory, must be shaking their heads in regret and contempt over their successors, not so much for their wickedness but their political and diplomatic incompetence.

As for Bishop Sorondo: One hopes he is cynical rather than naïve–we can repent our dishonesty, but stupidity is forever.

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top