Vatican Signs Deal with China

Christianity in the wild is a revolutionary force and the enemy of tyrants everywhere.

That is why totalitarian governments and dictators work so hard to either eradicate Christianity or domesticate it into some vapid, politically-controlled and bribed fake christianity that knows not Christ.

China is using both methods at once in dealing with its 60-million-and-growing Christian population. The domestication part is taking place in its negotiations with the Holy See. The Catholic Church has a real weakness in its witness to Christ. That weakness is its self-worship.

Idolatry can spring up in any denomination. With Protestants, it often takes the form of an idolatrous worship of a local leader or an evangelist. For Catholics, the first false idol is always the institutional church. Throughout its 2,000 year history, the Catholic Church has repeatedly put its institutional power and the preservation of its hierarchy ahead of following Christ.

I could give example after example of this. Many times, such as the Church’s repeated failures to stand up to fascism wherever it occurs around the globe (think Franco in Spain, Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Pinochet in Chile) this failure to follow Christ has resulted in the torture, imprisonment and death of millions of innocent people. It’s no small sin when the Catholic Church turns its back on Christ to bow down and worship its own institutional self.

China is played to this propensity in its  new deal with the Catholic Church. At the same time, it is becoming more violent and brutal in its suppression of other churches.

Any tyrant understands the power of real Christianity to uplift the people at the bottom of the human pile. They know with the raw instinct for power and survival that got them where they are, that genuine Christianity is a force that cannot be defeated. If you kill the shepherds, God will raise up more shepherd’s.

But if you corrupt the shepherds, you can use them to extinguish the flame by teaching and preaching a castrated christianity without Christ.

From The Guardian:

The Vatican and China said yesterday they had signed a historic agreement on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops, a breakthrough on an issue that for decades fuelled tensions between the Holy See and Beijing and thwarted efforts toward diplomatic relations.

The provisional agreement, which was signed in Beijing by deputy foreign ministers from both sides, was described by the Vatican as “the fruit of a gradual and reciprocal rapprochement”, following a long process of careful negotiation, and subject to periodic review.

“It concerns the nomination of bishops, a question of great importance for the life of the church, and creates the conditions for greater collaboration,” the Vatican said.

In Beijing, the foreign ministry put out a statement saying: “China and the Vatican will continue to maintain communications and push forward the process of improving relations between the two sides.”