With his community, Wei will follow the Pope and the Holy See, “regardless of how relations between China and the Vatican will end”. And from now on, he invites all the “friends” from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other places around the world to set aside the “pretense to speak in our place, to speak on behalf of the underground Church”, because “in the current reality of the People’s Republic of China, no one can claim they represent the underground Church”.
In the “media storm” of these recent days, fueled by political motivations attempting to relaunch the campaigns orchestrated by some groups in Hong Kong and in some sectors of the West which are opposing a possible turning point in relations between popular China and the Vatican, the words of Giuseppe Wei Jingyi, Catholic bishop of the diocese of Qiqihar, in the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang, deserve special attention. Because they come from an authoritative voice in China who is openly speaking out.
Giuseppe Wei Jingyi, born in 1958 in Baoding, is one of the most important and respected figures of the so-called “underground” Catholic Church in China. However, even now the apparatus of the Chinese government does not recognize his episcopal ordination. At the age of 31, he was present as a young priest - with non-marginal duties - at the meeting held in November 1989 in the small village of Zhangerce, in the central-northern province of Shaanxi, with about twenty or so, “underground” bishops or their delegates, whose intention was to give life to a Chinese Episcopal Conference operating beyond the control of the government.
Wei, a secretly consecrated bishop in June 1995, lived through three different periods of detention and experienced personal freedoms restriction of in the past, the longest of which, took place after the “secret assembly” in Zhangerce, and lasted for more than two years, from September 1990 to December 1992. That is also why, today, his words sound more eloquent and challenging than ever.
Bishop Wei, there is great attention followed by strange initiatives regarding the present and future situation of the Catholic Church in China.
Since the end of January, when the rumors about a possible development in relations between China and the Vatican began, there have been many reports, comments, analyses and hypotheses on this issue. According to the media, some are disappointed while others are excited about it. There are also those who speak on behalf of the “underground” community, and raise their voices claiming that they must defend it against injustice. They say that the underground Church in China is the “victim” of the Pope and the Roman Curia’s process of improving relations between the Chinese government and the Vatican.
And how do you look at all this?
I am a bishop of the underground community of the Catholic Church in China. I am grateful to those who are interested in us and have helped us in every possible way. But I also want to say to everyone that China is huge, that the condition of the Church varies from place to place, and this applies above all to the underground Church. Therefore, I wholeheartedly beg our friends outside of mainland China, including those from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and all the other continents, please not to speak on our behalf, do not insist on speaking in our place, do not speak on behalf of the clandestine Church. I ask you for it is not you who can represent the underground Church in China.
Some want to present the “underground” ecclesial area as a worried or even hostile reality in the face a potential agreement between Beijing and the Holy See. Is this the case?
In the present situation in the People’s Republic of China, no one can claim they represent the underground Church. If someone has received a request from a particular community or individual person to send messages on their behalf, ought to openly state that they are speaking on behalf of that particular community or person, and no one else. I myself do not want to be “represented” by someone else, without even being informed. And following what faith suggests to me, on my own behalf and on behalf of the community entrusted by God to my pastoral care, I want to solemnly declare: “regardless how the relations between China and the Vatican will go, we will wholly obey to the decision of the Pope and the Holy See, whatever it may be. And we will not question it either.
What is this trust based on? Is it just out of respect for the decisions of ecclesiastical authority?
When God called Abraham, the conditions around him were harsh and adverse. Abraham did not ask God to change things before he moved. The only thing Abraham had, was faith in God, in his God, who had called him. He entrusted himself to God without hesitation. When God called me, the seminaries in China had not yet been reopened. But God gave me His light. He showed me what the future of the Church in China could be. When I applied to enter the newly opened seminar, they told me that I had to take an admission exam. I prepared a presentation with this title, “If the end of a harsh winter has come, can spring ever be far away?
And now?
We must now look at the present time. The situation around us is not optimal, far from it, and that worries so many people. But even now our help comes from the Lord. It is He who created heaven and earth and the whole Universe. Our hope is all entrusted to the Lord. It is He the only One who will keep it. It is He who will not make us feel ashamed of ourselves. That is why Cardinal Parolin’s words, which I was able to read, have encouraged me greatly.
What, did you find particularly comforting about those words?
For a long time, we of the Church in China only knew that the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China were negotiating to overcome distances. But the negotiations were confidential, and we had no way of knowing what criteria were inspiring the dialogue. Also for this reason, much room was left for the voices of those who spread concern over a potential agreement. Parolin’s answers have confirmed to us that the theses of those who claim that an agreement will end up contradicting Catholic principles, are groundless. The Pope is not a politician. The Pope’s collaborators do not act according to political criteria. All their commitment is inspired and enlightened by faith. And faith also fuels the desire that all sheep return to unity in the same flock, under the same shepherd. This is the Pope’s task: to preserve communion in the Church.
Are you also referring to illegitimate episcopal ordination?
Among the 7 illegitimate bishops there are some excommunicated bishops, and some of them have done things that are not good. Someone may ask: are they still worthy and able to lead communities as bishops? My way of looking at things is this: we know that the Pope is a father, and the illegitimate bishops are like the prodigal son, they made mistakes and left home. When the son repents, and asks to return to his father, may there be any reason for the father to refuse forgiveness? On the contrary, the father had been waiting a long time for his return.
There are those who say that one thing is mercy for the person, another is to return them to episcopal ministry.
But if the Pope says that they can be bishops, then they can be bishops. Once they return home, they can live as part of the family. We must help, encourage, love each other and move forward together. All this makes me remember what Jesus says to the adulterous woman in the Gospel, “Woman, has no one condemned you?” “Then neither do I condemn you,”. “Go now and leave your life of sin”. And I also remember another phrase of Jesus, “Whoever is sinless should cast the first stone”.
What happens if things change, if one of the parties fails to fulfil their commitments?
You must always trust each other a little bit to reach an agreement. If there were not some mutual trust, there would not even be a chance to speak, and there would never be any agreement. The Holy See’s goal is the propagation of faith in Christ, while the Chinese government has other objectives. The Holy See is serious and has nothing to hide when speaking to national Governments. But China is also a great nation, one that can honor the agreements made. We Christians know that it is possible to trust people. And we trust above all in the Lord. It is He who leads all things.
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