Two prominent Catholics — Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong and American author George Weigel — have leveled harsh criticism of the Synodality Synod, focusing especially on the Vatican’s approach to China.
In a publication of your blog On October 18, Zen, Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, 92, issued an urgent call for prayer as the Synod enters its third week.
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“We must pray for the successful (decent) ending of this Synod,” Zen wrote, highlighting three fundamental concerns.
The cardinal questioned the legitimacy of the assembly as a Synod of Bishops, given the inclusion of voting members who are not.
“With the ‘non-bishops’ voting together, it is no longer a Synod of Bishops,” the Chinese cardinal argued.
About the controversial statement Begging for Confidence and LGBTQ issues, Zen wrote: “I believe that endless debate should be avoided at least on the issue of blessing same-sex couples” and urged delegates: “If this issue is not resolved at the synod, the “The future of the Church will be very uncertain, because some clerics and friends of the Pope insist on changing the tradition of the Church regarding this.”
The Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong also warned against granting independent authority to individual bishops’ conferences on doctrinal issues. “If this idea succeeds, we will no longer be the Catholic Church,” Cardinal Zen warned.
It is not the first time that the cardinal expresses his concern about the Synod. In a critique published on February 15, he argued that the Synod presents “two opposing visions” of the nature and organization of the Church.
For his part, Weigel, a distinguished fellow at the Center for Ethics and Public Policy, wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on October 17, criticizing the presence of two Chinese bishops at the Synod.
Weigel argued that the Bishop of Funing/Mindong, Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu; and Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang, Bishop of Hangzhou, are “engaged in ‘sinicizing’ the Catholic Church.”
The biographer of Saint John Paul II also noted that Zhan Silu had previously been excommunicated for accepting the consecration without papal approval.
Weigel specified that Yang Yongqiang is vice president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which Weigel describes as “a tool of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.”
The renewal of the controversial agreement between the Vatican and China is expected
The Synod is being held in the context of the current debate on diplomatic relations between China and the Vatican over the appointment of bishops.
The interim agreement was first signed in 2018 and was renewed in 2020 and 2022 and is likely to be renewed again in October.
As of this writing, the Vatican has not yet announced whether the agreement has been extended, although observers widely expect it to be renewed.
Although critics have expressed serious concerns on the Vatican’s diplomatic approach toward Beijing and the Chinese sinicization policythe Holy See has publicly redoubled the diplomatic strategy of supporting Beijing.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, has praised the campaign of “sinicization” of religion and culture in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s country, saying it relates to the Catholic concept of inculturation “without confusion and without opposition.”
Weigel firmly rejected this interpretation in a comment in the National Catholic Register.
More recently, Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of Vatican Newswrote on October 17 that the Chinese bishops at the Synod emphasized their communion with the universal Church.
Tornielli quoted Yang as saying: “The Church in China is the same as the Catholic Church in other countries in the world: we belong to the same faith, we share the same baptism and we are all faithful to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”
The director of Vatican News also reported that Yang stated: “We follow the evangelical spirit of ‘doing everything for everyone.’ We adapt effectively to society, serve it, adhere to the direction of the sinicization of Catholicism and preach the good news.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA
Anian Christoph Wimmer
Anian Christoph Wimmer, a multilingual Australian with Bavarian roots, is the editor-in-chief of CNA Deutsch. He held senior positions at Australia’s SBS and was editor-in-chief of the historic Münchner Kirchenzeitung. Graduated in Philosophy and Chinese Studies from the University of Melbourne, Anian Christoph Wimmer was on the jury for the Catholic Media Award of the German Bishops’ Conference and was an honorary researcher in Communications at the University of Melbourne. He has served on the Board of Directors of Caritas in Munich.