The deal is already drenched in controversy and opposed by many Chinese Catholics and anti-pope conservatives.

But the Vatican hopes it is just the first fruit of a long campaign, begun 25 years ago when the Vatican withdrew its nuncio from Taiwan.

The most recent negotiations were conducted under the supervision of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, Pope Francis' trusted No. 2 man who negotiated an agreement with the communist rulers of Vietnam back in 1996.

Speculation about the deal reached fever pitch in mid-September when it was leaked to the Wall Street Journal.

The agreement was announced Sept. 22 in a short, detail-free but nuanced announcement.

Indeed, the regularization of bishops' appointments was always the central goal of these talks that have taken five years to bear any fruit, despite too many misguided reports that the Vatican was prepared to go as far as cutting diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

The Vatican is the only state in Europe that continues to recognize Taipei.

The deal is seen as just a first step by Rome to exerting more influence on the Chinese church. As promised, few of its details have been made public.

It is believed the agreement gives the pope final veto power over the nomination of an episcopal candidate sent to Rome, putting in ink what has been effective practice for some years

For its part, the Vatican has officially recognized eight bishops previously not recognized by Rome and/or previously excommunicated.

One of those bishops died in 2017.

This is one of the key points of the deal that has angered leaders of China's so-called underground Catholics, leaders who have refused to join the Communist Party-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association.

Various estimates, including by the U.S. government, say underground Catholics make up as much as 50 percent of the country's estimated 10 million -12 million Catholics.

The same estimates say Protestants outnumber Catholics by about 50 million.

Leaked information of the deal triggered a resistance movement whose case had been publicly and aggressively prosecuted by Hong Kong's politically active retired bishop, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, 86, who was born in Shanghai.

"They're giving the flock into the mouths of the wolves.

It's an incredible betrayal," he told the British news agency Reuters, adding that Parolin should resign.

"I don't think he has faith. He is just a good diplomat in a very secular, mundane meaning." Continue reading

• Image: NCR

After the war, Pope Benedict XV "was prompt in indicating how the missionary world must change paths, abandoning the colonial ideology in which it had been lulled and promoting autonomy, independence and ecclesial self-governance in all the areas outside Europe," said the Vatican secretary of state.

Speaking at a conference July 12 anticipating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Parolin looked at the wide-ranging impact of the war and its aftermath on the political map of Europe, and how that affected the fates of peoples in the Middle East and in the countries of what would become the Soviet Union.

But he also spoke about Benedict's 1919 apostolic letter Maximum Illud on the Church's missionary activity.

In conjunction with the document's centenary, Pope Francis has asked all Catholics to celebrate a special "missionary month" in October 2019.

Announcing the special commemoration, Francis had said, "In 1919, in the wake of a tragic global conflict that he himself called a ‘useless slaughter,' the pope recognized the need for a more evangelical approach to missionary work in the world, so that it would be purified of any colonial overtones and kept far away from the nationalistic and expansionistic aims that had proved so disastrous."

"May the approaching centenary of that letter serve as an incentive to combat the recurring temptation lurking beneath every form of ecclesial introversion, self-referential retreat into comfort zones, pastoral pessimism and sterile nostalgia for the past," Francis said. "Instead, may we be open to the joyful newness of the Gospel."

World War I marked the end of the "state church," which was particularly strong in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Parolin said in his lecture in the northern Italian city of Aquileia.

The government had power in the appointment of bishops and controlled the seminaries and a variety of religious institutions, all of which fed into a mentality that emphasized national belonging over the universality of the Catholic faith, the cardinal said.

Maximum Illud, he said, was "the manifesto of a missionary and political revolution whose importance still has not been recognized as it deserves."

"In the encyclical," the cardinal said, "the pope ordered European missionaries to free themselves of nationalism, of the idea of European superiority over the peoples then seen as subordinate, to promote local languages rather than the language of the conquerors, (and) to train and to value indigenous clergy so that ‘one day they will be able to take up the spiritual leadership of their people.'" Continue reading

• Image: NCR

He will be at the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania(FCBCO) Plenary Assembly in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, in April.

"We are delighted that Cardinal Parolin, the Secretary of State at the Vatican, will be with us," said FCBCO Executive Member, Bishop Charles Drennan.

"His voice will echo Pope Francis' voice and gestures for justice and care of our planet home."

The Federation is made up of Bishops from Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, New Zealand and other Pacific nations.

They hold a plenary assembly every four years.

The assembly's theme this year is ‘Care of our common home of Oceania: a sea of possibilities'.

Human rights and environmental care and protection will underlie the Assembly's discussions.

There will be a particular focus on:

• Displacement
• Social unrest
• Climate change
• Harmful environmental practices such as deep-seabed mining
• Over-fishing

Drennan said "We discuss these matters from the perspective of faith, which sees all creation and human life as a gift from God to be respected and treasured.

"We are very mindful of ongoing unrest and questionable military presence in West Papua as well as the growing influence of unsavoury business and political interests buying influence in the Pacific.

"I am hopeful of a renewed resolve for integrity in governance and sustainable and participatory economic development to arise from our discussions together and with local leaders."

Keynote speakers at the Assembly include:
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who has been Secretary of State since 2013 and has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See for thirty years.

The cardinal will speak on Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si' , which underlies the theme of the Assembly.

Governor Powes Parkop, a representative of the Government's Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry.

He will deliver a keynote on the ongoing conflict between the Indonesian government and portions of the indigenous populations in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.

Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, one of the world's leading experts on climate change policy and environmental and energy policy, speaking to the Assembly on Catholic Social Teachings.

Father Clement Taulam of PNG, who will discuss the current situation about Manus Refugees and his work in this area.

Last year, Father Clement and retired army major Michael Kuweh made headlines in defying the PNG and Australian governments in calling for assistance for the refugees and asylum seekers on Manus, and for a peaceable solution to the standoff inside the condemned Australian-run detention centre.

Other sessions during the Assembly include an update on progress about the region preparing for Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.

New Zealand priest, Monsignor Gerard Burns, President of Caritas Oceania will update the bishops on the important work the NZCBC agency is undertaking across the region and their work with communities, government and aid agencies on climate change, sustainability, education and advocacy.

New Zealand also will report on its national youth festival in December last year, its survey of young people and its participation in the Pre-Synodal Meeting to take place in Rome from 19 to 24 March 2018.

Towards to end of the assembly, attendees will take part in a mass with local communities and a formal dinner with the PNG Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill.

Source

• Supplied: Amanda Gregan Communications Advisor - NZ Catholic Bishops/ Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa
• Image: catholicismpure.wordpress.com

The new monthly magazine "Women-Church-World" was launched this week by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See's secretary of state.

His department oversees L'Osservatore Romano, in which the new magazine has previously featured as a separate section.

During the launch, Cardinal Parolin said: "A woman could become secretary of state [at the Vatican], in the sense that the role of the secretary of state is evidently not bound to the sacraments or the priesthood."

Speaking to journalists after the event, the cardinal said he did not believe women wanted a quota system in the Church.

Rather, "they want to move forward through their merit and their capabilities, without having institutionally reserved spaces".

The co-ordinator of "Women-Church-World", Dr Lucetta Scaraffia, wrote in the new magazine's first editorial that a "hidden revolution" had taken place in the last century.

This has seen women make an increasingly important contribution to the intellectual life of Catholicism.

This intensified in the years following the Second Vatican Council, when more and more women started to study theology.

But this contribution by women has been "almost ignored" by the Church, Dr Scaraffia wrote.

The theme of the first edition was the Visitation.

Dr Scaraffia stated this event shows the prophetic role of women and should not just be reduced to a moment of solidarity.

"Both [Mary and Elizabeth] are able to see the true and profound meaning of the events that they are living through and are able to perceive the divine even when it is hidden," Dr Scaraffia wrote, "and they do it earlier than men and before the priests and sages".

Dr Scaraffia, a feminist journalist and professor, has been a regular writer in the Vatican's newspaper despite being an outspoken critic on the male-dominated leadership of the Church.

In March, the Women-Church-World section in L'Osservatore Romano called for women to be able to preach at Mass, currently exclusively reserved for priests and deacons.

On the same day the magazine was launched, Pope Francis released his prayer intentions for the month of May, which he dedicated to women.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Catholic Herald
• Crux
• Image: Il Casertano

Speaking at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University last week, Cardinal Pietro Parolin stressed that celibacy is a gift that must be received and nurtured with "joyful perseverance".

He acknowledged that the lack of priests in some parts of the world is regarded as a "sacramental emergency".

But it is nevertheless necessary "not to take rushed decisions, or decisions based solely on the basis of present need", The Tablet reported him saying.

The cardinal added that that the call to celibacy is a different way of giving one's self completely in a loving relationship.

This offers "an opportunity for the priest to live a rich affection for his own personal journey and for the exercise of his mission".

"It is not an absence of profound relationships, but a space for them," he continued.

"It is a ‘path of freedom' that the priest disciple fulfils together with Christ, by his sustained and animated grace, for the Church and the world".

Cardinal Parolin acknowledged that celibacy is not demanded by the "very nature of the priesthood".

But it offers "special advantages" for clergy in their pastoral ministry, he said.

These include the "freedom to serve".

Celibacy, the cardinal said, is "suitable for those called to the priestly ministry".

It allows priests to "travel light" so that they can "reach everyone, carrying only the love of God".

He stressed that celibacy is a gift that must be received and nurtured with "joyful perseverance" so that it may "fully bear fruit".

He noted that celibate priests ensure the "People of God always have radically free shepherds".

Later this week, the Pope will visit Mexico, where there is a marked shortage of priests, with only one priest for every 6500 Catholics.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Reuters
• Image: The Telegraph

Five people, including two journalists, are standing trial for the alleged leaking and dissemination of documents revealing mismanagement of the Holy See's finances.

On December 7, court a rejected a challenge to the jurisdiction of the Vatican in hearing the case, as the alleged crimes happened in Italy.

The trial has been adjourned without a specific date to resume.

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Speaking on Sunday, Cardinal Pietro Parolin cited conditions stipulated under Catholic just war doctrine.

He said comments Pope Francis made in 2014 that it is "licit" to use force to disarm an unjust aggressor remain valid.

The cardinal said it is important that any military action enjoy international support.

He also indicated that the Vatican will not back any specific plan for action against ISIS.

"Our role is to remember these [just war] conditions, not to specify means to stop the aggressor," he said.

He called for a global mobilisation to root out terrorism and said the Muslim community must be part of any wider solution.

Continue reading

The six-member delegation visited for 11 days, during which time they visited Beijing Cathedral, the National Seminary and Bishop Giuseppe Li Shan.

Bishop Li-Shan is recognised by both the Holy See and the Chinese Government.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See's secretary of state, said the Vatican is engaged in a dialogue with the Chinese authorities, a fact the Holy See vies as "very positive".

"It is a part of a process aimed at the normalisation of relations. The sheer fact we are able to talk about it is significant," Cardinal Parolin said.

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Cardinal Pietro Parolin told Italian news agency ANSA that the Pope will promulgate a document based in the conclusions of the synod of bishops' recent meeting.

Regarding the timing of any apostolic exhortation, he said: "This I do not know, but I don't think it will be long."

"After all, it is best to strike while the iron is hot," Cardinal Parolin said.

When asked whether the Pope is expected to publish a document following the conclusion of the synod meetings on the family, Cardinal Parolin said: "yes, and it will take the form of an apostolic exhortation, following synod tradition".

"As the end of the concluding report states," the cardinal added, "the synod fathers offer material to the Pope, requesting a document if he considers this appropriate."

Meanwhile, Belgian Bishop Johan Bonny told Vatican Insider of a conservative faction's tactics over the synod final document's paragraph on discernment for remarried divorcees.

"Those who were intent on not yielding an inch of ground on this matter, were convinced they were going to ‘win'," Bishop Bonny said.

"They said to themselves: we won't make any initial objections to what is stated in that section and then when it's time to vote, we will vote against it.

"They wanted to send out a sign: we don't wish to discuss this any longer, not even remotely.

"But they miscalculated things," Bishop Bonny said.

Each paragraph in the final document could have no more than 80 votes against at this synod, in order to reach the traditional two thirds vote required for inclusion.

"At the start there were definitely more than 80 of them," Bishop Bonny said.

"That means that in the end, some of them must have said: that's enough, let's move on towards the shared position on pastoral care. And this change came about gradually during the synod."

During the synod, Bishop Charles Drennan of New Zealand told The Tablet that the Pope is not bound by the need for the traditional two thirds majority vote.

Sources

• Vatican Insider
• Vatican Insider
• Crux Now
• The Tablet
• Image: Catholic Ireland

Cardinal Pietro Parolin sent a message to a conference on "The New Climate Economy" in Rome.

"When the future of the planet is at stake, there are no political frontiers, barriers or walls behind which we can hide to protect ourselves from the effects of environmental and social degradation," the cardinal wrote.

"There is no room for the globalisation of indifference, the economy of exclusion or the throwaway culture so often denounced by Pope Francis," he added.

However, Cardinal Parolin acknowledged that the path ahead would not be easy.

". . . .[T]his ethical and moral responsibility calls into question the resetting of the development model, requiring a major political and economic commitment."

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