Bishops become pawns in Pope’s power struggle with China

FINANCIAL TIMES
06 May 2006
By Mure Dickie in Beijing

In a 1958 encyclical, Pope Pius XII assured Chinese Roman Catholics they could rely on intervention from a powerful source: "Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, Queen of China."

Describing Mary as the nation's sovereign may have reassured a Chinese flock thrown into turmoil by the Communist revolution. But for the country's leaders, it was a reminder of Catholic claims to authority that could only be anathema to fiercely nationalist and atheist revolutionaries.

Half a century later, questions of power and loyalty still bedevil ties between the Vatican and Beijing. Just this week, hopes for a rapprochement have been dashed by the government-controlled Chinese church's appointment of two new bishops without papal approval.

"This is a grave wound to the unity of the Church," a Vatican spokesman said, adding that Pope Benedict XVI had learned of the appointment of the two bishops with "great displeasure".

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