AUKUS alliance: Vatican lacks moral authority on ChinaPAUL KELLY

The Vatican's Secretary of State, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was the principal architect of the 2018 deal between the Holy See and the Chinese Communist Party government on the appointment of bishops in China. Picture: AFP

AN HOUR AGO OCTOBER 5, 2021
NO COMMENTS
PERHAPS WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN. THE MORRISON-JOHNSON-BIDEN NUCLEAR-POWERED SUBMARINE DEAL HAS STIRRED RELIGIOUS CONSCIENCE IN THE HEART OF ROME WITH THE VATICAN SECRETARY OF STATE, CARDINAL PIETRO PAROLIN – SPEAKING WITH THE AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SEE – SAYING “ONE CANNOT BUT BE WORRIED” ABOUT THE DEAL.
PAROLIN HAS MANY OTHER WORRIES AND, IRONICALLY, HE HAS SOMETHING IN COMMON WITH SCOTT MORRISON – A PREOCCUPATION WITH XI JINPING’S CHINA, THOUGH THE PRIME MINISTER AND THE CARDINAL HAVE DIFFERENT POSITIONS ON BEIJING’S GRAND SCHEMES.
WHILE PAROLIN HAS CRITICISED AUKUS, THERE IS ANOTHER AGREEMENT HE EXTOLS – THE 2018 COMPACT BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY GOVERNMENT ON THE APPOINTMENT OF BISHOPS IN CHINA. THE AGREEMENT WAS RENEWED LAST YEAR, SPURNING US SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO’S REQUEST THAT THE VATICAN ABANDON THE DEAL.
READ NEXT
- ATTACK ON PM
  SLATER BOWLED OUT BY CHANNEL 7
  SOPHIE ELSWORTH
MORE IMPORTANT THAN POMPEO IS THE DYNAMIC CARDINAL JOSEPH ZEN, THE FORMER ARCHBISHOP OF HONG KONG, A ZEALOUS OPPONENT OF THE AGREEMENT WHO WARNED THE HOLY SEE DURING HIS BRIEF VISIT TO ROME LATE LAST YEAR THAT ITS ACTION WOULD “KILL THE CHURCH” IN CHINA. ZEN DENOUNCED THE AGREEMENT AS A BETRAYAL THAT GAVE “THE FLOCK INTO THE MOUTHS OF WOLVES”.
ZEN, WAITING IN ROME FOR FOUR DAYS, WAS DENIED AN AUDIENCE WITH POPE FRANCIS AND WAS MARGINALISED BY VATICAN DIPLOMATS IN METHODS REMINISCENT OF CHINA. FRANCIS DEPICTS HIMSELF AS A POPE FOR THE POOR BUT HIS REFUSAL TO SEE ZEN WAS THAT OF A PONTIFF UNWILLING TO HEAR CONTRARY VIEWS. THERE IS A RATIONALE, THOUGH UNPERSUASIVE, FOR THE VATICAN’S AGREEMENT WITH BEIJING BUT THERE IS NO MORALITY IN ITS SILENCE ABOUT CHINA’S CRIMES.
POPE FRANCIS GREETS THE FAITHFUL FROM CHINA IN ROME IN 2018. PICTURE: AFP
SO THE POPE’S SECRETARY OF STATE, AS PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT OF THE DEAL WITH CHINA, APPLAUDS IT AS “A REMARKABLE STEP FORWARD” WHILE WARNING THAT AUSTRALIA’S EFFORTS THROUGH AUKUS TO STRIVE FOR A REGIONAL BALANCE AGAINST CHINA REPRESENTS A SERIOUS PROBLEM.
READ MORE:VATICAN DROPS OAR INTO NUKE SUBS DEAL
WHAT IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM FOR AUSTRALIAN CATHOLICS IS THE ATTITUDE OF THE VATICAN AND POPE FRANCIS. IT IS DIFFICULT TO ASSESS HOW MUCH THIS REFLECTS FRANCIS’S ARGENTINIAN SCEPTICISM TOWARDS FREE MARKET CAPITALISM AND US-LED STRATEGIC ASSERTION FOR WESTERN VALUES OR WHETHER HIS ADVISERS CALL THESE SHOTS.
IT IS NOTEWORTHY THAT CARDINAL GEORGE PELL REBUTTED PAROLIN AND SUPPORTED AUKUS, AS REPORTED IN THIS NEWSPAPER BY TESS LIVINGSTONE. PELL SAID OF AUKUS: “I AGREE, AS DO THE VAST MAJORITY OF MY FELLOW CITIZENS AND THE POLITICAL FORCES OF GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION.” HE SAID “MORE COLLABORATION IS NEEDED BETWEEN DEMOCRACIES IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC TO BALANCE THE GREAT POWER OF CHINA, WHICH IS NOT DEMOCRATIC”, ADDING THIS WAS “PERHAPS NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD IN EUROPE”.
YOU CANNOT MISS PELL’S IMPLICATION; THESE THINGS AREN’T UNDERSTOOD IN THE VATICAN. PAROLIN DIDN’T EVEN UNDERSTAND THE BASICS OF AUKUS, SAYING THE HOLY SEE “IS AGAINST REARMAMENT” AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS WHEN THE AGREEMENT IS DEVOID OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
MANY UNDERGROUND BISHOPS AND PRIESTS IN CHINA WHO BELIEVED THEY REPRESENTED THE TRUE CHURCH HAVE BEEN DETAINED, ISOLATED AND TORTURED FOR REFUSING TO ACCEPT A PLEDGE OF “INDEPENDENCE” FOR REGISTRATION IN THE CCP-AFFILIATED CATHOLIC PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATION, WHICH REPRESENTS THE “UNIFIED” CHINESE CHURCH.
PAUL KELLY: COLUMNS
VATICAN LACKS MORAL AUTHORITY ON CHINA
00:00
10:30
IN A SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION LAST YEAR, HUDSON INSTITUTE CENTRE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DIRECTOR AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER NINA SHEA WROTE: “SINCE 2018 CHINA HAS AGGRESSIVELY ‘SINICISED’ CHURCHES, DISTORTING AND DEPOPULATING THEM. IT IMPLEMENTS OPPRESSIVE RELIGIOUS REGULATIONS INVOLVING CENSORSHIP, HIGH-TECH SURVEILLANCE, CLERICAL DETENTION, CHURCH DEMOLITIONS AND MORE. CCP PRINCIPLES AND PRESIDENT XI’S SAYINGS MUST INSPIRE SERMONS. THE CCP IS RETRANSLATING THE BIBLE.”
PAROLIN IS A SUSTAINED APOLOGIST FOR BEIJING. SHEA QUOTED HIS DISMISSAL OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CONCERNS AND PERSECUTION: “BUT, WHAT PERSECUTIONS … YOU HAVE TO USE THE WORDS CORRECTLY. THESE ARE REGULATIONS THAT ARE IMPOSED AND WHICH CONCERN ALL RELIGIONS.”
HE DID FALL SHORT OF THE MORAL INFAMY OF ONE OF THE POPE’S REPORTEDLY CLOSEST ASSOCIATES, ARGENTINIAN BISHOP SANCHEZ SORONDO, WHO PRAISED CHINA IN 2018 AFTER VISITING THE COUNTRY, SAYING IT HAD A “POSITIVE NATIONAL CONSCIENCE” AND “THE ECONOMY DOES NOT DOMINATE POLITICS AS HAPPENS IN THE UNITED STATES”.
SORONDO SAID: “YOU DO NOT HAVE SHANTY TOWNS, YOU DO NOT HAVE DRUGS.” HE SAID THE COMMUNIST STATE HAD “MANY POINTS OF AGREEMENT WITH THE VATICAN” AND WAS SHOWING “MORAL LEADERSHIP” IN ADHERING TO THE POPE’S PRO-GREEN ENCYCLICAL BETTER THAN MOST NATIONS. UNLIKE PROPONENTS OF “LIBERAL THOUGHT” CHINA WAS WORKING FOR THE PLANET’S GREATER GOOD. SORONDO SAID “THE CENTRAL VALUE IN CHINA IS WORK, WORK, WORK … IT IS LIKE ST PAUL SAID: ‘HE WHO DOESN’T WORK, DOESN’T EAT.’ ”
THERE IS A BATTLE UNDER WAY BETWEEN THE STRATEGY OF THE POPE AND HIS SECRETARY OF STATE TO PRESERVE THE CHURCH IN CHINA AND MUCH OF THE US CHURCH, ALARMED AT CONCESSIONS FRANCIS IS MAKING TO BEIJING. AMERICAN CATHOLIC INTELLECTUAL GEORGE WEIGEL SAYS A GENERATION OF VATICAN DIPLOMATS HAS CHASED THE PRIZE OF FULL DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH CHINA AT THE COST OF FAILING TO EXERT THEIR CHURCH’S INFLUENCE ON EVENTS IN HONG KONG AND EXERCISE ITS MORAL AUTHORITY IN CHINA.
BUT IN A REJECTION OF WEIGEL’S ARGUMENT, VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY CHURCH HISTORIAN MASSIMO FAGGIOLI ARGUED LAST YEAR THAT XI’S CHINA DID NOT REPLICATE THE “OFFICIAL ATHEISTIC IDEOLOGY” OF POST-WAR EUROPEAN COMMUNIST REGIMES. HE ASSERTS THAT IN CHINA TODAY “RELIGION CAN THRIVE BUT ONLY AS LONG AS IT DOESN’T CHALLENGE POLITICS AND HELPS POLITICS”.
HERE IS THE CORE INSIGHT INTO VATICAN ATTITUDES: IT WANTS A LONG-RUN DEAL BASED ON ACCOMMODATION WITH BEIJING. AND WHY WOULDN’T BEIJING WANT A CATHOLIC CHURCH THAT BOWED BEFORE ITS AUTHORITARIANISM? THE VATICAN’S REMARKS ABOUT AUKUS ARE NO ACCIDENT, NOR IS PELL’S REPLY. IT REFLECTS CULTURAL, STRATEGIC AND RELIGIOUS JUDGMENTS BEING MADE UNDER FRANCIS. EXACTLY WHO MAKES THEM REMAINS UNCLEAR.
IT IS EASY TO DISMISS WESTERN CRITICISM AS MERELY THE WORK OF THE FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. THOSE DAYS ARE GONE. BUT THE RENEWAL OF THE AGREEMENT PROVES THE VATICAN HAS BIG ASPIRATIONS FOR CHINA. ITS SECRETARY OF STATE PRAISES THE POPE FOR LEADING THE WAY WHEN ONLY ONE IN FOUR PEOPLE IN CHINA “KNEW WHO JESUS CHRIST IS” – AND HE SAYS THIS LEADS TO A GEOPOLITICS THE WEST NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND. INDEED, IN 2019 PAROLIN SAID “THE WEST SHOULD APOLOGISE” TO FRANCIS.
YET WHERE ARE THE CHURCH’S GAINS FROM ITS AGREEMENT WITH BEIJING? THE DEAL REMAINS SECRET. SCANT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE ON THE CRITICAL ISSUE – ENSURING THE POPE, NOT JUST BEIJING, HAS A SAY IN THE NEW APPOINTMENT OF BISHOPS. CHINA NEVER RECOGNISED BISHOPS FROM THE UNDERGROUND CHURCH. ARRESTED CATHOLIC HONG KONG MEDIA BOSS JIMMY LAI WARNS THE VATICAN’S DEAL IS A BETRAYAL OF CHINESE CHRISTIANS. AND UNDERGROUND PRIESTS ARE TORTURED TO SIGN UP TO THE STATE-SANCTIONED, VATICAN-SANCTIONED CHURCH.
EVERY SIGN IS THE AGREEMENT WORKS BETTER FOR BEIJING THAN ROME. IS THIS A SURPRISE? DOES THE CHURCH UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS DEALING WITH – THAT COMMUNIST IDEOLOGY CONSTITUTES A RIVAL POLITICAL RELIGION THAT MUST SUPERSEDE ALL OTHER CREEDS?
THIS DEBATE IS GOING TO AFFECT AUSTRALIAN CATHOLICS. THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE VATICAN’S VIEW OF CHINA AND AUSTRALIA’S VIEW OF CHINA WILL ONLY INTENSIFY. IT IS A CONFLICT BETWEEN THE VATICAN VIEW OF THE CATHOLIC INTEREST AND THE SECULAR AUSTRALIAN VIEW OF THE NATIONAL INTEREST. BUT THERE IS ANOTHER CONCLUSION – AUSTRALIAN CATHOLICS SHOULDN’T FOLLOW THE POPE ON CHINA.