Hong Kong bishop says Chinese church more united than it appears

Published: 2005-10-12

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church in China is much more united than it seems on the surface, said a bishop from Hong Kong. Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun told the Synod of Bishops Oct. 12 that the church in mainland China "appears divided in two parts, one officially recognized by the government and one clandestine that refuses to be independent from Rome." But, he said, "in reality, it is just one church, because we all want to be united to the Holy Father." Since the 1950s, China has had a government-approved Catholic Church that elects its own bishops with government approval and initially was forced to reject ties to the Vatican. An underground church has always maintained loyalty to the Vatican. According to information released by the Vatican, Bishop Zen said the two churches have been living "a forced separation." He has said that up to 85 percent of the government-approved bishops have reconciled with the Vatican and that, in many regions of China, Catholics from the two churches intermingle at the parish level.

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