Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing and Cardinal Stephen Chow of Hong Kong defended the controversial policy of Sinicization of the Catholic Church in China and obedience to state religious laws at a Nov. 5 conference in Rome, comparing the state ordering of religion to the practice of synodality in the Latin Church.
Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing. Credit: Lou Linwei/Alamy Live NewsIn his speech at a Nov. 5 conference commemorating the centenary of the consecration of the first Chinese-born Catholic bishops at the Urbaniana University, run by the Dicastery for Evangelization, Li said that the Communist Party’s regulation “sets the legal boundaries for religious activity and fully guarantees the Church’s normal evangelization and pastoral care, as well as the legitimate rights and interests of the faithful.”
Cardinal Chow also addressed the conference, saying that the main challenge for Chinese Catholics is how to be both “loyal to our government and loyal to our faith.”
The policy of sinicization has been a controversial aspect of the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with the Chinese government, which paved the way for unity between the state-sponsored and schismatic Chinese Patriotic Catholic
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