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Pope Francis came to a hotly debated deal with the authoritarian Chinese government in 2018.
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The move caused widespread confusion among Catholics, who watch as China continues persecution of religious groups.
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The Daily Caller News Foundation spoke to authors and theologians regarding the motives behind Pope Francis’s cooperation with China.
Pope Francis caused widespread confusion among Catholics when he agreed to recognize bishops appointed by the authoritarian Chinese government in 2018. Over a year later, the pope has kept silent as China continues religious persecution, imprisons priests, and destroys Muslim graveyards.
Catholic authors and theologians provided the Daily Caller News Foundation with a variety of reasons on why Pope Francis keeps silent on Chinese persecution, and why the pope aligned the Catholic Church with the Chinese government in the first place.
“Francis continually denounces Western countries for any efforts at border control, but stays silent on China’s genocide against the Uighur Muslims; on its persecution of Christians; on its escalating crackdown on Hong Kong,” Catholic author and commentator John Zmirak told the DCNF. “Is this a replay of the Hollywood studios that vetoed anti-Hitler movies, for fear of losing business in Germany? Or is it darker? Is what we’re seeing more like the Soviet Union’s stifling of anti-fascist rhetoric after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939?”
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin pushed Francis’s September 2018 deal with the Chinese government, an agreement ending a decade-long power struggle between the Chinese government and the Catholic Church on whether the Chinese government has the power to appoint Catholic bishops. Under the conditions of the deal, Pope Francis recognized the legitimacy of seven bishops selected and appointed by the authoritarian Chinese government. ….
Read more here https://dailycaller.com/2020/01/06/pope-francis-china-persecution/
