Vatican negotiator says deal with China on nominating bishops was basis for ‘more concrete dialogue’
- Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli denies agreement was a sell-out of China’s underground church, but admits there is a long way to go
- China’s 12 million Catholics are split between government-backed group and underground church whose priests and parishioners are detained and harassed
The Vatican official who negotiated a landmark agreement between the Holy See and China on bishop nominations said on Monday that the path to normalising Catholic life in the country was “still long” but that a new future was now possible.
Speaking in public for the first time since the accord was signed on September 22, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli revealed details of his four-decade effort to heal the rift with China while attending a book launch.
Celli choked up at times, recalling the suffering he had seen while meeting clandestine bishops, as well as the “profound suffering” of illegitimate bishops forced to accept episcopal consecration without papal consent.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, fresh from a visit to Italy by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the signing of an agreement to support Beijing’s infrastructure strategy the “Belt and Road Initiative”, also attended the book launch, at the headquarters of the Italian Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica.
China’s estimated 12 million Catholics are split between those belonging to the government-backed Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which is outside the Pope’s authority, and an underground church loyal to the Pope. Underground priests and parishioners are frequently detained and harassed.