The Holy See officially recognizes the Republic of China (Taiwan/Chinese Taipei) as the representative of China. The Holy See has a chancery/embassy there (called an apostolic nunciature), the Holy See has assigned ambassadors there (called apostolic nuncios), and the Republic of China returns the favor with a chancery/embassy and diplomats in Rome (most embassies accredited to the Holy See are in Rome).
However, the Holy See has only sent chargé d’affaires to the Republic of China since the 1970s, which in other words is like an interim head of the diplomatic mission or second in command after the ambassador, or apostolic nuncio in the Holy See’s case.
Recently, the Holy See has moved their chargé d’affaires for the Republic of China to become the apostolic nuncio for Rwanda.
Unlike with other movements, this announcement came without much press, buried away in many other stories.
This has sent concerns around the Catholic Church that the Holy See might be moving to recognizing the People’s Republic of China.
But, the Holy See must not!
Why?
One, the Holy See represents the Catholic Church abroad. The Catholic Church has been plagued with corruption and a lack of action at the top for years now. The Church is supposed to be guided by the Holy Spirit, but with countless errors by many of its officials, it is becoming less and less respected by Catholics and especially non-Catholics alike. The Church can alleviate these scandals by doing more right things. One right thing would be to recognize the Republic of China, the China that is not censoring your religion, is not locking up your believers, is allowing religious freedom, and is not extending persecution greatly to other groups as well. As a faith-based organization, it seems apparent that recognizing the good China would be unequivocally the way to go. Unfortunately with this Pope and many in the Church today, doing the right thing is always something we do not expect to be done.
Two, the Holy See is about faith and not money. By recognizing the People’s Republic of China, the Holy See is succumbing to money and being dependent on another anti-religious nation for the protection of its Catholics, which creates a power imbalance whereby the Church does not work against the evils of the country in which it is receiving money from. This has happened many times. Look at the Land O’ Lakes Statement with regards to Catholic Higher Education in the USA. The Catholic Schools sought greater funding and prestige, and now, are so dependent on US federal funds that they are no longer really Catholic. It is so bad that you have people promoting sin on campuses as professors or as student groups. No matter your views on the issues, the fact is that Catholic Higher Education has abandoned its Catholicism for the quest of worldly pleasures, and has ended up with no truly Catholic education. For the Catholic Church to stay Catholic, it must seek to do the right thing, not the thing that makes the most money or earns the most prestige.
Three, the Church is about defending the weak, protecting the poor, helping out the less fortunate, and in international relations, the Republic of China is really all of these things. And they are good! Currently, only 13 other nations recognize the Republic of China, as the Communist Party of China (CCP) in all in tense and purposes forces countries to choose one nation or the other to recognize, and the CCP’s coercive power has meant a steady decline in the Republic of China’s recognition. For the World as a whole, it is mightily important that the spiritual leader for over 1 Billion people continues to recognize the Republic of China, because it signals that the debate is not over, giving the Republic of China strength and balancing powers. The Church’s goal should be to stop CCP domination around the globe as it subverts God into a cloud of nothingness in favor of their one-party state control, and by recognizing the Republic of China, it proves that the CCP does not even control its own region, and thus will have a tougher time controlling regions outside of East Asia.
Four, making deals with these Chinese is never a good idea. Yes, Chinese people constitute the most people out of any nationality, but the de facto leaders of the Chinese who live on the mainland are not exactly the most trustworthy when it comes to making deals. With Hong Kong, they promised to leave them alone until 2047. However, that has quickly changed and now Hong Kong does not have many of their freedoms in tact, either in law or in practice. With regards to many companies, the CCP promised or rather it was implied, that no one would steal the companies’ intellectual property, but that has turned out to be a lie and many companies have had their intellectual property stolen by CCP-aligned spies and tons of information have ended up with CCP-aligned companies that have put the companies who went into the People’s Republic of China at a severe disadvantage. And, closest to home, are the reports that the People’s Republic of China’s deal with the Holy See to allow the Pope to have final say on the appointment of bishops, in order to make the Catholic Church not underground in the People’s Republic of China anymore, is now being reneged upon as the CCP appears to be picking these bishops instead.
As the Catholic Church is reminded more and more just how important it is to have leaders who actually espouse Catholicism, the worst choice for the Holy See would be to try and erode even more of the independence and faithfulness the Catholic Church posseses.
When we look at the German Catholic Church or Catholic Higher Education across the USA, or the Catholic Church in the People’s Republic of China, we are constantly reminded of why it is important to put Faith and the Doing of Good in front of profits and worldly prestige. The Catholic Church that does not value its own beliefs is not only not Catholic, and a disgrace to Jesus Christ, but it is also not as powerful either because all it becomes is another Country, NGO, Business, or whatever entity it hopes to model itself after with no morals and one that can never compete with the likes of other secular organizations much more powerful. The Catholic Church is powerful now because it is about belief and there is no way to regulate the internal beliefs of humans, thus connecting humans with a strong Catholic belief with its Church. Getting rid of this belief in favor of worldly pleasures quashes this soft power the Holy See possesses more than any other sovereign-state. Thus, Pope Francis needs to do more to keep this belief alive, not less.
KTH 