Understanding the new rapprochement between China and the Vatican

Text by: Aurore Lartigue Follow

Chinese and Vatican diplomats held talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday. A first at this level for 70 years, when the two states have not maintained diplomatic relations since 1951. Decryption.

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The meeting " took place in a cordial atmosphere ", reported the communiqué of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, which recalled that contacts between the two countries "have evolved positively over time ". Little is known about what was said during the meeting between the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs and his Vatican counterpart on Friday.

Repressed Catholics and a Church Cut in Half

Relations between Beijing and the Holy See are complex. Before Mao Zedong came to power, the Vatican had diplomatic representation in China, with an apostolic nuncio based in Beijing. " But when Mao came to power in 1949, says Dorian Malovic, head of the Asia service at the Catholic newspaper La Croix , a general repression fell on the entire Catholic and Protestant Church: foreign missionaries were sent home while the priests and the remaining Chinese seminarians are repressed . In 1951, the apostolic nuncio took refuge in Taiwan. The breakdown of diplomatic relations is then consummated. Today, the Vatican is still the only European country to recognize Taipei and not Beijing.

The Maoist era was a dark period for Chinese Catholics. But if their churches are destroyed, they do not disappear. Bishops, priests and nuns live in hiding and stay away from religious life. "We will have to wait for the arrival of Deng Xiaoping and the opening of China economically, politically and diplomatically in the 1980s, before churches reopen and priests can return to their parishes. It is also the moment when a separation takes place within the local Catholic Church: on the one hand the "official" Church with priests who must " make allegiance " to Beijing and to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ), all under the thumb of the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics; and on the other, "clandestine" Catholics who continue to practice their religion in the greatest secrecy.

In the 1990s, John Paul II tried to put an end to this separation. Wishing to " reunify " this Church cut in two, the Vatican will then recognize certain bishops appointed by Beijing. But in 2000, an event came to throw a new cold on Sino-Vatican relations: the canonization in Rome of 120 Chinese martyrs on October 1, day of the national holiday of the People's Republic.

The 2018 agreement decried

The election of an Argentine pope, Francis, reputed to be more open, and the coming to power of Xi Jinping in 2013 will give rise to " a new phase of rapprochement ", explains Dorian Malovic. This phase leads to the signing in September 2018 of a provisional agreement . A text whose content has remained secret. " We know that the pope made an important concession by recognizing seven bishops who had been excommunicated before, because they were appointed by Beijing, details the journalist. A concession in exchange for the promise that the next appointed bishops would be proposed by Beijing to Rome, but that ultimately the pope would have the last word. "

But this agreement does not please everyone and some Catholics see it as a betrayal. " Some have had the impression that the Vatican had sacrificed part of the Chinese Church to be on the safe side of the sleeve with the authorities in Beijing, " said the specialist, who recalls for example that Rome then asked the bishops " “underground” to reintegrate the official structures, but by giving up their place to the “officials”.

Diplomacy versus religious freedom

The Munich meeting on Friday, February 14, marks a new step in the rapprochement between China and the Vatican. " Never had a meeting at this level taken place ", confirms the journalist Dorian Malovic, who sees it for Beijing " a way of saying: if the Vatican dialogues with us and recognizes us as a State of speech and willing to dialogue is that we are not that repressive and mean. "

For Dorian Malovic, this meeting and the pope's diplomatic strategy vis-à-vis Beijing pose in any case many questions. Because since the arrival of Xi Jinping, the situation of Chinese Catholics has not improved, quite the contrary. " In terms of religious freedom, we have gone back to times of the 1950s, " he believes.

" There is a clear will, displayed by Xi Jinping to" sinise "the religions so that they are compatible with China, develops the historian Thomas Tanase, who has just published a History of the papacy in the West . And this policy can be very harsh with church closings, restrictions on religious activity, limiting the presence of crosses on religious buildings or even the obligation for priests or bishops to subscribe to documents which affirm compatibility with the values ​​of the People's Republic of China. For example, not putting religious material online, not making religious proselytism, which also means prohibiting the entry of churches to minors. "

" Does the Vatican prefer to win a diplomatic victory rather than asking for more concessions from China and more guarantees of religious freedom for Catholics? Asked the La Croix journalist, who noted that the signals sent by Beijing have not been very encouraging lately.

“ Clearly, Pope Francis is moving away from the United States. Its position is increasingly distant from an Atlantic or Western world. He seeks to find other points of support, such as Russia or China, ”comments Thomas Tanase.

The historian also sees in it a connection with Protestantism “ very dynamic and linked to South Korea and the United States. For the Chinese authorities, getting closer to the Vatican can also be a point of balance. And in the other direction, for the Catholic Church which has been somewhat overwhelmed by the rise of Protestant Christianity in China, this may be a way of trying to end the divisions within the Chinese Catholic Church , to initiate a policy with the regime and thus promote its development. "

► Read also: “Art diplomacy”: the Vatican museums exhibit themselves in the Forbidden City of Beijing

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