Bergoglio Grovels to Chinese Emperor but is Snubbed by Xi Jinping

 One historic meeting sought, another cancelled

On the flight to Nur-Sultan, Francis made an attempt to arrange a spontaneous meeting with Xi Jinping.

(Rome) Over the past three years, the Holy See has sought a meeting between China's Communist leader Xi Jinping and Pope Francis. There were also such efforts in the run-up to the Trip to Kazakhstan. However, the red rulers in Beijing waved this off. This recalls a parallel: while one historic meeting of Francis is being sought, another was canceled by him. Years of efforts by the Holy See to bring about a meeting between the Pope and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow were successful in 2016. A second meeting was already fixed, but in this case, it was Francis who canceled it.

Philip Pullella, Reuters' Vatican correspondent, confirmed the latest development in Vatican-China relations:

"The Vatican has told China that Pope Francis is ready to meet with President Xi Jinping when the two were in the Kazakh capital, but Beijing replied that there was not enough time for a meeting, a Vatican source said Thursday."

The source did not elaborate, Pullella said, on how or when the Vatican approached the People's Republic of China, with whom it is "engaged in a delicate dialogue about the status of the Catholic Church in the country."

The Chinese side, according to the unnamed Vatican source, has always indicated that it "appreciates the gesture." However, Xi Jinping's scheduling did not allow a meeting. China's communist ruler was in Nur-Sultan on September 14 at the same time as Francis. Xi Jinping made his first trip abroad after more than two and a half years (Corona). First, he asserted in the Kazakh capital that the People's Republic of China is interested in a "stable" Kazakhstan. The People's Republic of China is Kazakhstan's most important foreign partner after Russia. In terms of exports, China is even the first addressee. Beijing has a stake in numerous Kazakh oil and gas companies, and the gas pipelines from Turkmenistan, which are important for China, run through Kazakhstan. Turkmenistan is the largest supplier of natural gas to Beijing.

Philip Pullella commented on a possible meeting between the Pope and "Emperor Xi":

"A meeting between the two men, no matter how brief, would have been historic." 

Historic would also be a visit of the Pope to Russia, which has been sought with much patience and emphasis since John Paul II. Francis seemed to be reaping the rewards when a first meeting with the Moscow Patriarch took place in Cuba in February 2016. Due to the territorial principle to which the Russian Orthodox Church adheres, the Pope's arrival on Russian soil has a significance to which fundamental questions are linked.

When asked about a meeting with Xi Jinping, Francis reacted briefly on the flight back from Nur-Sultan to Rome yesterday, saying only:

"I don't know anything about that."

  

On September 13, Francis had stressed on the flight to Kazakhstan:

"I'm always ready to go to China."

The extension of the secret agreement on the appointment of bishops signed in 2018 between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China seems to have been finalized since the beginning of September. The recent courtesies of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on September 14th confirm this. Mao Ning is one of several press spokesmen for the Beijing Foreign Ministry. At the daily press conference, asked about Francis' statement to be ready for a visit to China, she said:

"I, too, have taken note of the relevant reports and appreciate the friendship and goodwill conveyed by Pope Francis. China and the Vatican maintain good communication. We are also ready to continue our dialogue and cooperation with the Vatican and to actively advance the process of improving relations."

 

However, an official confirmation that the secret agreement has been extended is still missing.

Mao Ning, press spokeswoman for the People's Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the september 14 press conference

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Vatican.va/fmprc. gov.cn (Screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Bishop Schneider Says: Communion in the Hand is a Great Wound in the Church

A reform of the Church is advanced by an end to Communion in the hand and supper tables.  Proceedings and Old Liberal committees will play a completely subordinate role.

Auxiliary Bishop Schneider
on der Homepage of the
Shrine of Maria Vesperbild. 

(kreuz.net)  "The more committees, the more proceedings, the more fear of public opinion and the politically correct, the less there will be real reforms in the Church."

This is what Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider from Astana in Kazakhstan said on Pentecost Sunday at the Swabian pilgrimage Maria Vesperbild.

For Msgr Schneider it is "more than clear that the Church has experienced a great crisis."

Communion is Handed out Like Bread

The crisis  shows itself in its most gripping in the declining Liturgy, for the prelate:  "Today's manner of receiving Communion spread throughout the world is a great wound."

The body of Christ has been received "without recognizable sacral gestures of worship".

Hand communion leaves one with the impression as if one is taking a regular meal, which "one puts in ones' own mouth".

The Bible gives a different example of reverence

Msgr Schneider recalled that the angel and prophets in Holy Scripture knelt before Jesus Christ:

"How great is the contrast between  today's widely spread form of handcommunion with the minimalistic signs of reverence on the one side and the glorious examples in Holy Scripture and the examples of Catholics frm the past two thousand years, and  also the edifying examples of our own associates, parents, grandparents on the other side."

The example of the Pope

Msgr Schneider recalled then that Pope Benedict XVI has been distributing Holy Communion in the mouth since Corpus Christi of 2008 to the faithful on their knees:

"A true Catholic, and even more a Catholic Bishop, can not ignore the Pope's  gestures."

That would be a true renewal

For the Auxiliary Bishop it would be a poignant sign of Faith if all the Masses world-wide "were brought back to clear signs of reverence, silence, the holiness of the music".

He criticized the supper table very carefully:  priests and people should interiorly and exteriorly look together upon Christ -- he said.

All faithful should "receive the body of Christ self-evidently in the state of sanctifying grace, having gone too confession, and  to receive it directly in the mouth with the piety of a child."

In this Msgr Schneider sees "powerful sings of a true renewal in the Church".

In such Masses a God fearing man should fall on his knees and say:  "Verily,  God is among you"  [1Cor 14 24-25]

A Church of Believers -- not of Church-tax payers

The Auxiliary Bishop explained in his sermon an example of reform from Kazakhstan.

In the city of Karaganda the Catholics built one Church every 35 years under the Communists.

The authorities allowed only a lowly, utilitarian building without towers or a cross.

For two years the faithful -- also the elderly and the children --- were occupied with the building.

They dug even in the earth, in order to put the church deeper in order to allow for a larger interior space.

Without Discussions or Commissions

After the completion of construction there was no Bishop far and wide who could have blessed the church.

Actually the parish priest -- he was called Pater Alexander Chira by everyone -- promised the faithful that God would send a Bishop.

On the day of the blessing he appeared himself with a mitre and shepherd's staff in the church.  He was a secret Bishop.

According to a woman who witnessed the event, there were even more tears flowing than holy water.

The church blessing is an example for Msgr Schneider "of true reform of the Church without a lot of commissions and discussions."

Link to kreuz.net...

Kazakhstan Will Restrict the Catholic Church's Operations

New rules on religious freedom put at risk Kazakhstan’s Catholic Church
Fr Edoardo Canetta, a missionary in Kazakhstan, warns that new rules adopted by the Kazakh government limit entry visas for foreign religious. More than half of the country’s priests and bishops do not have Kazakh citizenship. The local Church and the Vatican’s relations with local authorities are to blame.

Astana (AsiaNews) – “The new laws on registering and controlling religious communities put at risk the Catholic Church of Kazakhstan. There will be restrictions on visas for foreign religious. About half of all Catholic priests and bishops come from other countries,” Fr Edoardo Canetta told AsiaNews. The Italian missionary and university professor, who has lived in Kazakhstan for 11 years, is in Italy for family reasons. “The new rules,” he explained, “concern mainly Muslim and Protestant groups deemed aggressive, but they damage all non traditional religious groups.”

Enacted on 13 October by will of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the new rules want to indigenise religious communities in accordance with a control system used by the Chinese government. Only the Russian Orthodox Church and Kazakh Muslims are considered traditional and thus do not fall under the new restrictions. In order to survive at the national level and avoid penalties, non-indigenous groups must prove that they have 5,000 members.

According to Fr Canetta, the new rules are very similar to those already in place. They include tight state control over religious groups. However, the “worse novelty for the Kazakh Church is the tightening of visas for foreigners and the criteria for confessional group registration, which slow down the birth of new communities, including Catholic ones.”

Link to Asia News...

Pope Fulfills Request from Orthodox

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, NOV. 30, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's secretary of state is in Kazakhstan delivering relics of the Apostle St. Andrew to both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches there.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is on a six-day trip to the nation, coinciding with the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) summit.

The journey also coincides with today's feast of St. Andrew, making the delivery of the relics particularly timely.