Synod: Update to the List of Participants

As AsiaNews reports, “As Card Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg and relator general of the Synod, explained, almost all the members participated in the first session in October 2023; only 26 have changed, essentially replacements because of impediments that have intervened since then.”

Among the additions to the list of participants are the names of Bishop Vincenzo Zhan Silu, one of the Chinese bishops whose excommunication was lifted in 2018. Representing the bishops of mainland China, he will join Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang, who was also present last year.

“In response to a question about the change and on the duration of the presence of the two Chinese bishops (who left the Synod in October 2023 before the end of the work), Card Grech, secretary general of the Synod, said that ‘the Secretariat of State communicated the names to us, but we have no other information on the matter,’” AsiaNews states.

 “All this suggests that the choice to designate Bishop Zhan Silu in lieu of Bishop Yao Shun was done by the official bodies of the Chinese Catholic community, which are controlled by Chinese authorities.” This appointment illustrates the remarks of Pope Francis during his recent “flying magisterium.”

Asked during the return flight of his latest Apostolic Journey, as is now the custom, one of the questions concerned the relations between China and the Vatican. The Pope responded that he was “pleased with the dialogues with China. The results are good. Even for the appointment of bishops, things are progressing with goodwill,” which is a very Jesuit mental reservation.

He continued: “I’ve spoken with the Secretariat of State, and I’m happy with how things are going. As for China, I see China as an ‘ilusión’ (aspiration, ed.), meaning I would like to visit China. [...] It’s a country with an ancient culture, a capacity for dialogue to understand each other that goes beyond the different systems of government it has had.  I believe China is a promise and a hope for the Church.”

A Dream for Francis

Alongside the usual crowd of those who applaud this speech, the website Asianews, which keeps itself grounded, reminds us who Bishop Zhan Silu is: “the bishop of Mindong, who is 63, is one of the eight illegally ordained prelates whose excommunication Pope Francis revoked in 2018, following the signing of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China.”

The PIME website adds that “in Fujian province, one of the areas where the Catholic presence in China is historically strongest, the application of the Provisional Agreement cause pain in the local ‘underground’ community.

“Mindong is the diocese where Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin resigned in October 2020, just after two years, unwilling to accept the pressures on the clergy who (like himself) refused to register with official bodies controlled by the party.”

Thus a bishop, first excommunicated and who found himself cleared by virtue of the Sino-Vatican Agreement, hastened, in the diocese entrusted to him, to pressure the clergy to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, controlled by the United Front and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). And it is he who was chosen by the CCP to participate in the Synod.

One thing is certain, the Sino-Vatican Agreement is neither a promise nor a hope for Chinese Catholics, but rather a yoke that the Chinese authorities would like to see on the necks of all Catholics in China.