Most Rev. Robert W. Finn wrote a piece at the Catholic Key that I think asks a pretty important question. He asks if China is buying America’s silence about the persecution of Catholics.
For me, the short answer is yes. I’ll ask you to recall that in 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said of speaking with China about human rights, “Our pressing on those issues can’t interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis.”
That seems pretty clear to me that human rights are at least secondary to this administration. And let’s face it, it’s probably been secondary for many administrations but Clinton was the first to mistakenly speak the truth.
It seems that China has recently stepped up its persecution of the Catholic Church with little outcry from America. Hey, you go a few billion dollars in debt to another country it’s a tad more difficult to criticize them.
Rev. Robert Finn writes:
In May of 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued a Pastoral Letter to Clergy, Religious, and Lay Faithful of the Catholic Church in the People’s Republic of China. There the Holy Father expressed his affection for the people and his solidarity with them. He explained the proper relationships within the diocese, between the dioceses and the State, and the indispensable link between the local Churches and the Church Universal. The Pope offered encouragement for unity and a guide for evangelization.
The challenging circumstances for the work of the Church in China have been intensified because of a separation that has existed between a state-supervised Patriotic Catholic Association, China’s only legal public form of Catholicism, said to have about 5 Million members, and an “illegal,” “underground church,” believed to be the home for perhaps 10 million clergy, Religious and laity, who have sought to maintain a more unfettered communion with the Vatican. It is acknowledged that many members of the Patriotic Association, bishops included, have attempted to keep ties with Rome.
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