BEIJING, Sep. 20, 00 (CWNews.com) - The Communist Chinese government on Wednesday criticized the Catholic Church's plans to canonize 120 Chinese martyrs on October 1, citing the day as the 51st anniversary of the beginning of Communist rule.
Sources in Rome have said China is applying pressure on the Vatican to change the canonization date for the 120 martyrs who were killed during the turn-of-the 20th century Boxer Rebellion, well before the 1949 ascension to power by the Communists.
«This act by the Vatican is extremely hurtful to the feelings of the Chinese people and to the dignity of the Chinese nation and absolutely will not be tolerated by the government and people of China,» the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations including the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which eschews any connections to the Vatican or the Pope. Many Catholics worship in illegal, underground churches following only bishops appointed by the Pope.
The Chinese pressure may have caused Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who was in Beijing last week for a religion conference, to cut short his visit. The cardinal's visit was seen as a major advance in Vatican-China relations, but even last week new signs of a Chinese crackdown on Catholics were evident.
The US-based Cardinal Kung Foundation had reported on several troubling incidents of arrests and beatings of bishops, priests, and laypeople over the past month. The group had called on Cardinal Etchegaray to protest the Chinese actions.
Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs