In late December, 2016, as the Chinese government was
negotiating a deal to improve relations with the Vatican, Yu Zhengsheng, a
senior Communist Party leader, “endorsed the notion of a self-governed Chinese
Catholic church.”[1] The
key point, I submit, hinges on governance.
In what sense does governance apply rightfully (or fittingly) to a religious
organization? This is a question to be put both to the Chinese government and
the Vatican.
Yu Zhengsheng meeting Chinese Catholic religious authorities (Source: Yao Dawei/Xinhua)
From one standpoint, the sort of governance that naturally
applies to states seems less than fitting applied to religious organizations.
Most obviously, a religious organization and a nation-state are of two distinct
domains. More subtly, the sort of authority wielded by a government can, if
applied within a religious organization, undercut spiritual authority and
spirituality itself among the faithful. Rendering the governance of a religious
organization as including that of a state, such as the Vatican is, naturally
incurs the sibling rivalry with other countries. Put another way, were the
Roman Catholic Pope not a head of state, Chinese officials might have felt less
need of a self-governed Chinese Catholic Church. Yu Zhengsheng would have been
less likely to urge that spiritual leaders in China “adhere to the principles
of independence and self-management.”[2]
Put another way, a more spiritual and less political church would be less of a
threat to any government, including that of China. Spiritual leadership from
the Pope would be more likely to pass as if through a semi-permeable membrane
into China.
From the other standpoint, the sort of governance that
naturally goes with religions is less than fitting applied to governments of
countries. Yu Zhengsheng’s claim that spiritual leaders should work to promote
the “good virtue of patriotism” crosses a line because religious organizations
are not in the domain in which patriotism exists. For Catholic priests to urge
patriotism would undermine the credibility of their spiritual guidance. Given
the Vatican’s own status as a nation-state, the question could be raised: Which
patriotism—of China or the Vatican? Hence the Vatican’s involvement in
governmental governance naturally invites jealousy in other governments.
Perhaps both statecraft and religious authority are
vulnerable to overreaching. Perhaps problems would be simpler were people to
apply self-discipline to keeping within their respective domains. The Chinese
government should not ask Catholic clerics in China to advance Chinese
patriotism and the Vatican should get out of the nation-state business. Keeping
to two very different sorts of authority can go a long way to minimizing conflict
and category-mistakes.
[1]
Javier C. Hernandez, “Catholic
Churches in China Should Be Independent of Vatican, Official Says,” The New York Times, December 30, 2016.
[2]
Ibid.
