'Church should not intervene with political struggles,' says Hong Kong bishop

Bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal John Tong, defended the Vatican for not openly criticizing China's records on human rights and said the Church should not intervene in politics.

Cardinal Tong argued for the Vatican in his article "The communion of the Church in China with the universal Church," released July 31, where he acknowledged that many people in mainland China expressed their concerns that Vatican officials, including the Pontiff, might be going "against the principles of the Church" as the Holy See and the Chinese government finally reach a seeming mutual agreement on the appointment of Catholic bishops.

The bishop also considered it "unfair" that Chinese Catholics criticized the Holy See for not openly condemning the Chinese government for its human rights abuses.

"The mission of the Catholic Church is not to change the institution or administrative agency of nations," wrote Cardinal Tong. "It cannot and should not intervene in political struggles. Rather, it should realize the above targets through rational thought and the awakening of spiritual power."

He also cited Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in a 2007 letter that the Church "will not give up striving for social justice, but the Church should not confuse its duty and jurisdiction with that of the government."

Cardinal Tong praised Pope Francis for respecting the Chinese people by giving them time "to understand" that the Catholic Church "is not an enemy of the country or an outside invader" and that the Church "has no hostility towards them.

The communist state recognizes the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) as the official Catholic Church in China while 12 million Chinese Catholics attend an "underground" church that remains loyal to the Vatican.

Chinese authorities arrested Msgr. Thaddeus Ma Daqin, auxiliary bishop in Shanghai, after he publicly revoked his allegiance to CCPA during his Episcopal ordination at St. Ignatius Cathedral in Shanghai in 2012. Ma was reportedly subjected to weeks of interrogation. He was stripped of his title as bishop, and he was forced to undergo communist indoctrination classes.

A blog post attributed to Ma that circulated in June showed the latest revelation as a turnaround for the detained bishop who recanted his renunciation of CCPA. However, some cast doubts on the authenticity of the blog.