The Sino-Vatican Agreement: The Error of Compromise

https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/underground-bishop-detained-in-china

If Francis thought Beijing was making a good faith agreement in 2018 he was short-sighted in at least two aspects.

One, many would have pointed out to him that Beijing cannot be trusted when it comes to such questions. They will not bend when it comes to outside affiliations and influence and though the public is largely ignorant of it – the Vatican has a decades-long relationship and track record of collaboration with the American Central Intelligence Agency.

Two, by the agreement being established on a short-term basis all it did was give Beijing time to pause and plan and as expiration nears they're preparing to either disregard the agreement or return to the bargaining table with an even stronger hand to play.

It must be said that if the Vatican or any ecclesiastical entity for that matter wants to play in the political world – then they're going to learn that the world of geopolitics, economics and certainly diplomacy are not governed by ethics and principles of honesty. We play board games by the rules but the chess game that is geopolitics – it's purely a case of dog eat dog. The rules (as it were) provide a framework for diplomacy but at the end of the day the rules and protocols quickly wither in the face of raw power and who can effectively wield it.

The hope of unity between the Catholic underground and the state-sanctioned CPCA is likely to result in one, a large group of Catholics flowing into the CPCA and two, those that refuse will take an even harder line when it comes to refusal. This undermines the authority of the Francis papacy and as word spreads it undermines his standing with the wider world and especially within the West where there are strong forces working to undo his legacy even while he still holds office.

From virtually all perspectives, the Sino-Vatican agreement has been a failure and will only compromise and divide Chinese Catholicism.

As a non-Catholic my interest in the story is limited and yet there's a lesson here for the ecclesiastics (in any context) that would seek rapprochement with the state (any state) and seek its legitimisation.

But then of course if one's understanding of Church involves institutionalisation, a massive bureaucracy and a host of extra- and para-Church entities with their own considerable budgets and infrastructure – then the New Testament ideal of a remnant pilgrim Church isn't really possible. And once again we're back to questions concerning the authority and normativity of the New Testament. Is it sufficient or merely a starting point, a springboard for further development, elaboration and expansion? Rome gave its answer more than a dozen centuries ago and thus its stand is hardly surprising. The debate is for all intents and purposes over in the Protestant-Evangelical world as well but there are still a handful of persons and groups questioning the assumption. One hopes this story will further such inquiries and reflections.