‘In China there are two Catholic Churches . One is the State controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association with its big places of worship in the major cities. ,the other is the persecuted Catholic Church which exists in the backstreets and hidden places of the provinces. It’s obvious to me which one has Jesus present within it.’
I quote from a recent journalistic comment on the Church and China. While congratulating the writer on his personal confidence, it has to be said that there is a fundamental flaw in his observations. The flaw is that bishop members of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association , state controlled though they may be, are validly ordained bishops according to the Apostolic Succession . To deny them the powers of a bishop is to deny the Apostolic Succession., even if they have little influence in the’ backstreets and hidden places of the provinces’.
This year is the centenary of the code of rules and regulations for the governance of the Church, formulated by Cardinal Gasperri and Eugenio Pacelli , which is known as Canon Law. Among its many rules and regulations is that which insists that the choice of bishops has to be approved by the Pope.
As comparatively recently as 1829, the Pope appointed only 24 out of 646 bishops in the Latin Church .Any tinpot monarch , duke or margrave had the right to disapprove , but in 2017 possibly the most powerful country in the world must await the approval of a few Vatican civil servants in the smallest country in the world , while untold millions of Chinese hungry for the Eucharist , the other sacraments and a spiritual life , made available to them by Christ’s own imperative .
But of course that can’t compete with Canon Law.