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In 2018 Pope Francis and China struck up an accord which is set to be renewed next month. While this agreement is secret, Pope Francis accepted the Communist party's picks for regional bishops (with his final say) and Chinese Catholics may now recognize the Pope's leadership.
The hope is that with this agreement Catholics in China will be able to receive the Sacraments openly. The Catholic Church in China is split between an independent underground Church and open communities (Communist approved and run) which are under the Patriotic Catholic Association. This accord is a plan to combine the underground Church and the Communist recognized Church.
A few of those bishops accepted by Pope Francis had been excommunicated by then Pope Benedict XVI. Some underground Church bishops and priests are in limbo however.
The idea of dialogue to reach a peace deal is an attractive one. Yet history has shown dialogue means little to an atheist government. The fear is that Pope Francis' Church will lose if he practices appeasement.
How did Pope John Paul II win a total victory against a much stronger anti-Catholic Communist party? It was with the people's Solidarity Movement that Pope John Paul II won religious freedom for Eastern European Catholics. Saint John Paul also had an ally with US President Reagan (and in particular his adviser, Jeane Kirkpatrick) who used financial pressure during the Cold War.
The main ideas used to overthrow Communist dictators were developed by a Harvard professor, Gene Sharp. Gene Sharp's book, From Dictatorship to Democracy, has been used throughout Eastern Europe to overthrow dictators, like Serbia's Milosevic.
Some of Gene Sharp's methods include:
“If you can identify the sources of a government’s power, such as legitimacy, such as popular support, such as the institutional support, and then you know on what that dictatorship depends for its existence, and since all those sources of power are dependent upon the good will, co-operation, obedience and help of people and institutions, then your job becomes fairly simple. All you have to do is shrink that support and that legitimacy, that co-operation, that obedience, and the regime will be weakened, and if you can take those sources far away, the regime will fall."
Gene Sharp said this about the China's Tiananmen Square protests:
“What became very clear to me in retrospect was that the students in the square were operating with great commitment and bravery, but they really didn’t know what the hell they were doing. The students had no plan."
The Solidarity Movement by contrast included well-planned worker strikes.
Professor Sharp's ideas include a simple cycle: protest/persuasion, social, economic and political non-cooperation, and non-violent intervention. Sharp writes:
“there is nothing in nonviolent action to prevent it from being used for both 'good' and 'bad' causes.”
This week in the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke about how the Communist Chinese government was attempting to re-write the Bible under “sinicization” and “inculturation.” As this takes place, the underground Church in China is being persecuted, with the COVID19 pandemic being used as justification by officials to limit gatherings.
Freedom is a spiritual need, a need embedded in us psychologically. Even those in prison can be free in their minds and hearts. This is why the atheist USSR couldn't stand for long.
Our Lady at Fatima told us, “in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
Interestingly, China is poised to become a very Christian nation in the next fifteen years. Is this the reason why Communist China is cutting deals with the Vatican now? What will future Chinese Catholics write about the Vatican Accord of 2018?
As we are confident in the love embodied in Mary's Immaculate Heart, we also need to be wise to the ways of our enemies--those who change the meaning of the Gospel of her Son, Jesus Christ. A battle worth winning is one worth fighting.
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News Sources:
https://www.persecution.org/2020/08/20/china-used-covid-19-suppress-underground-catholics/
https://www.aljazeera.com/2020/09/22/vatican-and-china-prepare-to-renew-historic-deal-angering-us/
https://www.mediaed.org/transcripts/How-to-Start-a-Revolution-Transcript.pdf
A long time ago I thought I was a writer. Because my parents were practical, I went into teaching. About ten years ago, I began to write again.
I hold a B.S. degree in Elementary Education from Penn State University (University Park). I enjoy gardening, reading, Pittsburgh sports, and cooking, but not in that order. My regular job is being a wife and mother.
