His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
His Eminence Angelo Cardinal Sodano
His Eminence Jozef Cardinal Tomko
His Excellency Most Rev. Stanislaw Dswisz
His Excellency Most Rev. Giovanni Battista Re
Vatican City

Your Eminencies and Excellencies:

THIS IS AN OPEN LETTER (part I)

We write this letter because we do not understand many actions by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church towards the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. These actions appear to have been so one sided in favor of the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) that the underground Roman Catholic Church, which has gone through five decades of severe persecutions in China in defense of the Magisterium, appears to have been greatly neglected by the Vatican. Inasmuch as we and a vast number of concerned Catholics in and out of China do not understand these actions, we present to you the following issues in the hope that you will clarify and explain to the world your position.

This letter is written in the spirit of genuine concern for the Church and in the interest of reconciliation between the Roman Catholic underground Church and the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) in China. On many occasions, His Holiness Pope John Paul II called for reconciliation and for unification of the Church in China so that it will return to the one fold and one Shepherd. How can the Holy See expect us to carry out this policy of the Holy Father while there is such confusion on the issues cited below?

I. IS THE CHINESE CATHOLIC PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATION A SCHISMATIC CHURCH?

1. Founding: The Chinese government established its own 'Catholic Patriotic Association’ in 1957 as a substitute for the Roman Catholic Church in order to sever Roman Catholics in China from fidelity to the Successor of Peter and from any teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that the Chinese government considers to be contrary to its own interests. Its basic principle is autonomy from the Pope’s administrative, legislative and judicial authority.

2. Pope Pius XII’s position – No Longer Catholic: Approximately three years before the establishment of the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA), Pope Pius XII wrote with great foresight on the subject of autonomy in his encyclical Ad Sinarum Gentem in October 1954: ’22. The promoters of such movements (Three Autonomies) with the greatest cunning seek to deceive the simple or the timid, or to draw them away from the right path. For this purpose they falsely affirm that the only true patriots are those who adhere to the church thought up by them, that is, to that which has the 'Three Autonomies.’ But in reality they seek, in a word, to establish finally among you a 'national’ church, which no longer could be Catholic because it would be the negation of that universality or rather 'catholicity’ by which the society truly founded by Jesus Christ is above all nations and embraces them one and all.’

3. Ordination of Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) Bishops and Pope Pius XII’s declaration – Invalid and Illicit: The first Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) bishop was ordained in 1958 without a mandate from the Holy See. On June 29, 1958, after condemning the CPA, Pope Pius XII declared the election of CPA bishops invalid and their consecrations illicit, that is, 'criminal and sacrilegious,’ in his Ad Apostolorum Principis:

’41. Acts requiring the power of Holy Orders which are performed by ecclesiastics of this kind [’bishops who have been neither named nor confirmed by the Apostolic See’ cf. n. 39] , though they are valid as long as the consecration conferred on them was valid, are yet gravely illicit, that is, criminal and sacrilegious.

47. From what We have said, it follows that no authority whatsoever, save that which is proper to the Supreme Pastor, can render void the canonical appointment granted to any bishop; that no person or group, whether of priests or of laymen, can claim the right of nominating bishops; that no one can lawfully confer Episcopal consecration unless he has received the mandate of the Apostolic See.

48. Consequently, if consecration of this kind is being done contrary to all right and law, and by this crime the unity of the Church is being seriously attacked, an excommunication reserved specialissimo modo to the Apostolic See has been established which is automatically incurred by the consecrator and by anyone who has received consecration irresponsibly conferred.’

4. Pope John XXIII’s Confirmation – Condemned Once Again: One year later on June 29, 1959, in his encyclical Ad Petram Cathedri, Pope John XXIII recalled and renewed his predecessor’s condemnations: '131. All, therefore, who wish to remain Christians must be aware of their serious obligation to avoid those false principles, which Our predecessors–especially Popes Pius XI and Pius XII–have condemned in the past, and which We condemn once again.’

5. Continuous Ordination of CPA Bishops Without Mandate: To this day, however, the Chinese government continues to carry out its own independent appointment and ordination of bishops for the Catholic Patriotic Association. In fact, the Catholic Patriotic Association has ordained approximately 90 bishops in the past 42 years without the mandate from the Holy See.

6. What is Schism?: According to The Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church, Canon 751 states that schism is 'the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.’

7. Is the CPA Catholic? In September 1988, the Holy See, through the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, issued a China Advisory (Prot. 3314/88) to the world’s bishops concerning contacts with the Catholic Church in China. (Hereafter, the Holy See 1988 directive). The prologue of this document states: 'As the contacts among members of the Episcopate, priests and faithful, with exponents of the Catholic Church in China are becoming ever more frequent, this Dicastery, in accord with the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church, considers it opportune to give the Episcopal Conferences the following indications:

1. The contacts in question could be a good occasion to reaffirm with clarity the Catholic Doctrine on the communion which must unite the Bishops with the Successor of Peter and, through him, among themselves (Lumen Gentium, 14 and 18). In this regard, one could have recourse to the doctrinal principles of the Vatican Councils I and II.’

Pope John Paul II repeated this position in a letter to the Chinese faithful in September 1994:

’I am especially close to those who have remained faithful to Jesus Christ and to His Church in the midst of difficulties of all kinds, and continue to testify, even at the cost of deep and prolonged suffering, that the principle of communion with the Successor of Peter… cannot be renounced by a Catholic who desires to remain such and to be recognized as such.’

In January 1995 Pope John Paul II had insisted that:

’A Catholic who wishes to remain such and to be recognized as such cannot reject the principle of communion with the Successor of Peter.’

On December 3, 1996, during a Mass for China marking the feast of St. Francis Xavier, the Pope called on Catholics in China:

’All Chinese Catholics are called to remain loyal to the faith received and passed on, and not to yield to models of a Church which do not correspond to the will of the Lord Jesus, to the Catholic faith, or to the feelings and convictions of the great majority of Chinese Catholics.’

Pope John Paul II was clearly referring the 'models’ to the Catholic Patriotic Association.

In essence, the Pontiff was saying that as long as the Catholic Patriotic Association denied the supreme administrative, legislative, and judicial authority of the Successor of Peter, it could not be considered as belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. The CPA is not and cannot be Catholic because it continues to deny the above-mentioned supreme authority of the Successor of Peter. This is also in line with Pope Pius XII’s position as stated in the second paragraph of this section above.

8. Observations by Members of the Roman Catholic Church Hierarchy: Having been notified about the ordination of five bishops by China’s CPA on January 6, 2000, Cardinal Ignatius Kung, the exiled Bishop of Shanghai, reacted immediately in the United States: 'The Patriotic Association is a schismatic Church.’

On Jan. 7, 2000, Cardinal Vincenzo Fagiolo, honorary president of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, at a conference in Palermo, Italy, described China’s move to ordain the five bishops as a 'de facto schism.’

9. Conclusion: In the light of the overwhelming evidence reflected above, we believe that the Catholic Patriotic Association is not Catholic and is indeed in schism.

10. Holy See’s Position: The Holy See has never formally declared that the CPA is in schism, albeit the CPA has refused for the last 42 years to submit to the Roman Pontiff and has also refused for the last 42 years to be in communion with the members of the Church subject to him.

11. We do not understand your silence on this issue and need your unequivocal answer: Why has the Holy See not declared the CPA to be in schism? Recently, in response to questions about Maryknoll’s support of the CPA, Maryknoll Father Leo B. Shea wrote: 'Catholics are united. There is no schismatic Church in China.’ Why are so many Roman Catholic leaders advocating that the Catholic Patriotic Association and the underground Roman Catholic Church in China are the same Church – and without any explanation from the Holy See to attempt to resolve this apparent contradiction?

Virtual Vandée Editorial Note

Above text is quoted from the internet page of the Cardinal Kung Foundation (state from December 2001): http://www.cardinalkungfoundation.org/
CKF is not a 'traditionalist’ organisation and acts in full obedience to John Paul II.