[CNN] China's Underground Churches

Pope Benedict XVI urged Catholics in China on Sunday to renew their loyalty to the Holy See.
Benedict made the appeal on the Vatican's second annual day of prayers for the church in China. It represented his latest effort to bring China's estimated 12 million Catholics under his wing.
China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Communist Party took power. Worship is allowed only in state-backed churches, which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.
Millions of Chinese, however, belong to unofficial congregations that are loyal to Rome
.
Benedict has made improving often-tense relations with Beijing a priority of his papacy and has sought to unify the country's faithful.
In 2007, Benedict sent a special letter to Catholics in China, praising the underground church but also urging the faithful to reconcile with followers of the official church.
During a visit to the southern Italian city of Cassino, Benedict said his thoughts were with all Chinese on Sunday.

«In particular, I greet with great love the Catholics in China and urge them to renew today their communion of faith in Christ and loyalty to the successor of Peter (the pope),» Benedict said.
The Vatican plans to publish a new document following up on the 2007 letter.
The document, in a question-and-answer format like the Catechism of the Catholic Church, will summarize and discuss the contents of the pope's letter to make it more accessible, the Vatican said Saturday. The Vatican plans to post it on its Web site in English and Chinese.

About 5 million Chinese Catholics belong to government-approved "patriotic" churches that reject the Vatican's full authority, according to the Chinese government. The Vatican estimates that 8 million others worship in illegal underground churches that have defied the Communist Party by remaining loyal to the pope.

And yet the church's position here is probably stronger than at any time since the 1949 Communist revolution, when Beijing broke ties with the Vatican. Though police continue to harass and imprison priests and bishops in the underground church, several have been allowed to operate openly. At the same time, the Vatican has slowly infiltrated the government's official church, winning over many of its clergymen and exerting unprecedented influence over its operations.

Such gains give Benedict greater leverage in efforts to restore diplomatic relations with China and reunite the country's Catholics with the church. But they also reinforce the Chinese leadership's traditional suspicion of the church as a hostile force that helped subvert Communist rule in Eastern Europe and is determined to do the same in China.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• china
• church
• catholic
• god
• jesus
• religion
• belief
• underground
• communism
• government

[mount922]

funny,does church in China need to hide?church is normal in Chinese cities, you can easily find churches around China. it is weird say "underground"

[ChineseGuyInMelody]

Chrisitanity in our China? forget about it.

[anmap]

I don't know why people here keep debating the matters of the Roman Catholic Church , the Pope and many others...These are beyond the topic of this video: Everyone has their own freedom of worship, but the Chinese Government don't want this.They want everything must be state-controlled, even religions.Because not only the Catholics have underground churches, but others, like Protestantism do have. If you are a good person and believe in God, please pray for them and stop making useless debate.

[TenderTrap86]

@Corsaircid The Pope *only* gets his authority through Christ, so the Roman Catholic Church takes Christ at His word.

When Christ said "This is my body...This is my blood" and "I will be with you until the end of the world", Catholics don't see this as Our Lord being vague or ambiguous, as if to suggest He'll be "in our heartsor minds or souls", but that He really will be with us, flesh and blood, just as He was flesh and blood come down from Heaven for the conversion of sinners.

[Corsaircid]

@TenderTrap86

Is it The Lord Jesus Christ the R.C's take at his word or the pope at his word???

Type in "Keys of the kingdom" which goes into great detail on this issue.

Cheers!

[TenderTrap86]

@Cosairman No, no, no.

Whee does it say that in the Bible?

Roman Catholicism was born in the year 33AD, when Peter made his Confession to Christ, and Chrit gave him the Key of Kingdom.

You see, the most peculiar things about Roman Catholics are that they actually take Chrit at His word.

[Cosairman]

@TenderTrap86 Catholicism and Christianity is one of the same.

However Rome brought in a lot of different beliefs in the Constantine era to appease the different pagan groups in return for their tolerance of Christianity.

Hence the Roman Catholicism was born,345 yrs after Lord Jesus Christ died.

Cheers!

[TenderTrap86]

@Corsaircid No. Where does the Bible say Catholicism is paganism?

[Corsaircid]

@TenderTrap86

When Jesus was preaching and ministering to the people the Religious Pharisees constantly challenged him for his lack of interest in their Religion......Religion is tradition.

Read Mark ch7 v5-9 KJV Bible.

Cheers!

[TenderTrap86]

@Corsaircid Show me where it says that in the Bible.