An Open Letter to Conferences of Catholic Bishops across the World

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Press statement: Cyber Attack on the Global Petition to Conferences of Catholic Bishops Across the World Regarding the Possible Agreement Between the Holy See and the Government of the People’s Republic of China (14-15 February 2018)

Since yesterday’s afternoon, our petition website of the Open Letter was under distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack, and the internet protocol addresses of the attackers were from Tianjing. The page resumed normal operation at around 12:30pm today after repairing. We condemn such cowardice act. We will not be cowed into silence by such attack, and we will never stop voicing out for the Church. Again, we appeal to the faithful who loves the Church: Please join the petition, and continue to pray for the persecuted Church in China.

www.freecatholicsinchina.org

聲明：《就聖座與中華人民共和國政府可能達成之協議致全球主教團公開信》聯署網站遭受駭客攻擊（2月14-15日）

《就聖座與中華人民共和國政府可能達成的協議致全球主教團公開信》的聯署網站從昨日下午起受到阻斷式服務攻擊（DDOS），而多個發動攻擊者的網際網路協定（IP）位址來自天津。網頁經搶修後於今日下午約十二時半恢復正常運作。我們譴責此等懦夫的惡行。攻擊不能把我們的聲音壓倒，我們也絕不會因此而停止為教會出聲。我們在此再次呼籲各位愛護教會的教友加入聯署，並請繼續為在中國受到迫害的教會祈禱。

www.freecatholicsinchina.org

An Open Letter to Conferences of Catholic Bishops Across the World Regarding the Possible Agreement Between the Holy See and the Government of the People’s Republic of China

Your Eminence and Most Reverend,

We are a group of Catholics. Recently there has been news reports indicating that the Holy See and the government of the People’s Republic of China will soon reach an agreement over the issue of bishop appointment, as well as recognition of seven illicit “bishops”. We are deeply shocked and disappointed. With our love and allegiance to the Holy Mother Church, we hope you and the bishops conferences would pay attention to such development.

According to the teachings of the Holy Mother Church, bishops are the successors of the Apostles, bearing the duties of leading and tending the flock: “The Church is apostolic. She is built on a lasting foundation: “the twelve apostles of the Lamb” ( Rev 21:14). She is indestructible (Mt 16:18). She is upheld infallibly in the truth: Christ governs her through Peter and the other apostles, who are present in their successors, the Pope and the college of bishops.”(Catechism, 869) All bishops must therefore be appointed by the Successor of Peter — the Holy Father, the Pope. And they must be men of moral principles and wisdom. The government must play no role in the selection process:

“[T]he right of nominating and appointing bishops belongs properly, peculiarly, and per se exclusively to the competent ecclesiastical authority. Therefore, for the purpose of duly protecting the freedom of the church and of promoting more conveniently and efficiently the welfare of the faithful, this holy council desires that in future no more rights or privileges of election, nomination, presentation, or designation for the office of bishop be granted to civil authorities.” (Christus Dominus, para. 20)

Yet, the seven illicitly ordained “bishops” were not appointed by the Pope, and their moral integrity is questionable. They do not have the trust of the faithful, and have never repented publicly. If they were to be recognized as legitimate, the faithful in Greater China would be plunged into confusion and pain, and schism would be created in the Church in China.

We fully understand that the Holy See is eager to be able to evangelize in China more effectively. However, we are deeply worried that the deal would create damages that cannot be remedied. The Communist Party in China, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, has repeatedly destroyed crosses and churches, and the Patriotic Association maintains its heavy-handed control over the Church. Religious persecution has never stopped. Xi has also made it clear that the Party will strengthen its control over religions. So there is no possibility that the Church can enjoy more freedom. In addition, the Communist Party has a long history of breaking promises. We are worried that the agreement would not only fail to guarantee the limited freedom desired by the Church, but also damage the Church’s holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity, and deal a blow to the Church’s moral power. The Church would no longer be able to have the trust of people, and “serves as a leaven and as a kind of soul for human society as it is to be renewed in Christ and transformed into God’s family.” (Gaudium et Spes, 40)

In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, our beloved Pope Francis writes: “Sometimes I wonder if there are people in today’s world who are really concerned about generating processes of people-building, as opposed to obtaining immediate results which yield easy, quick short-term political gains, but do not enhance human fullness… The Lord himself, during his earthly life, often warned his disciples that there were things they could not yet understand and that they would have to await the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:12-13). The parable of the weeds among the wheat (Mt 13:24-30) graphically illustrates an important aspect of evangelization: the enemy can intrude upon the kingdom and sow harm, but ultimately he is defeated by the goodness of the wheat.” (224-225) The Spirit of God sometimes does not allow us to proceed. (ref. Act 16:6) Though the force of evil is growing, time belongs to God. By putting our trust in the Lord, the dark night will eventually pass. Rushing for a quick achievement, taking a wrong step, can  result in total failure.

His Holiness has always been attentive to the sufferings of persecuted Christians. He once said: “Legal systems, therefore, whether state or international, are called upon to recognize, guarantee and protect religious freedom, which is an intrinsic right inherent to human nature, to the dignity of being free, and is also a sign of a healthy democracy and one of the principal sources of the legitimacy of the State.” “It causes me great pain to know that Christians in the world submit to the greatest amount of such discrimination. Persecution against Christians today is actually worse than in the first centuries of the Church, and there are more Christian martyrs today than in that era.” We believe that persecution of Christians in China also pains His Holiness. Therefore, we urge that any agreement must be grounded in the protection of religious freedom, and an end to religious persecution. Unfortunately, as a newly-revised Regulation on Religious Affairs, which allows for stricter scrutiny over religions, has just been put into effect in early February, we cannot see any possibility that the coming agreement can result in the Chinese government stopping its persecution of the Church, and ceasing its violations of religious freedom.

Your Eminence and Most Reverend, we earnestly hope that, you, your brothers and your flock continue to pray for the communion of the Church in China, as well as her pastoral ministry. We earnestly ask you, with the love on the people of God, appeal to the Holy See: Please rethink the current agreement, and stop making an irreversible and regrettable mistake.

May the Almighty God bless the Church in China!

Martyr Saints of China, pray for us!

(Click to join the petition)

The initiators are university professors, lecturers, researchers, human rights activists and lawyers:

Dr. Kenneth Ka-lok Chan (Hong Kong)
Prof. Joseph Yu-shek Cheng (Hong Kong)
Mr. Yiu-leung Cheung (Hong Kong)
Dr Rodney Wai-chi Chu (Hong Kong)
Dr. Martin C. K. Chung (Hong Kong)
Mr. Yan-ho Lai (London, UK)
Dr. Wing-kwan Lam (Hong Kong)
Dr. Lisa Yuk-ming Leung (Hong Kong)
Mr. Kwok-ming Ma (Hong Kong)
Mr. Chit-wai John Mok (Irvine, US)
Mr. Benedict Rogers (London, UK)
Dr. Yik-fai Tam (San Francisco, US)
Prof. Wai Ting (Hong Kong)
Mr. Yiu-ming To (Hong Kong)
Mr. Patrick Yu (Northern Ireland, UK)

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就聖座與中華人民共和國政府可能達成之協議致全球主教團公開信

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最可敬的樞機和主教：

我們是一群天主教徒。對於近日各方消息顯示，聖座與中華人民共和國政府即將就主教任命問題達成協議，並承認七名非法「主教」，我們深感震驚和失望。我們本著對慈母聖教會的忠誠與愛護之情，希望閣下和主教團能對關注事件。

按慈母聖教會的教導，主教是宗徒的繼承人，秉承著領導和牧養羊群的責任：「教會是從宗徒傳下來的：她建立在鞏固的基礎上：即那『羔羊的十二宗徒』（默 21:14），故此是不能毀滅的，在真理方面是不能錯誤的。基督透過伯多祿和其他宗徒，以及他們的繼承者，即教宗和世界主教團來管理教會。」（《天主教教理》，869）因此，主教必須由伯多祿的繼承者——聖父教宗任命，且必須是道德高尚而賢明的人。在整個選拔過程中，政府不應有任何角色：

「任命主教，設立主教，是教會合法當局本有、特有、獨有的權利。為此，為維護教會的自由，並為更易於推行信友的利益起見，神聖大公會議希望，此後不再讓給任何政府揀選、任命、推薦、指定主教的權利及特惠。」(《主教在教會內牧靈職務》法令，20)

然而，七名非法「主教」並無得到教宗任命，道德操守令人懷疑，得不到教友的信任，也從無公開懺悔。假若要承認他們為合法，並要求合法主教讓位，將令大中華地區的教友陷入混亂和傷痛，並在大陸教會中造成分裂。

我們深明，聖座希望能較有效地在中國國內傳揚福音。然而我們非常擔憂，協議將造成無法彌補的傷害。習近平領導的中國共產黨近年再三拆毀十字架，又破壞教堂。愛國會仍然牢牢控制教會，對基督徒的迫害從未停止。加上習近平也多次表明要加強黨對宗教的控制，可見教會不可能得到更多自由。再者，中共在破壞承諾方面，可謂罄竹難書。我們憂慮，協議不但不能令教會得到期望中有限度的自由，反而會破壞教會「至聖、至公，從宗徒傳下來」的神聖本質，並重挫教會的道德力量。教會將再難以得到世人信任，「在基督內革新人類社會，並將這社會變作天主的家庭。」（《論教會在現代世界》牧職憲章，40）

我們所愛的教宗方濟各在《福音的喜樂》勸諭中指出:「有時候我在問，今日世界誰在真正關心衍生建立百姓的過程，以抗衡急功近利的做法，即使這做法可產生容易的、迅速的、短期的政治利益，卻不能提昇人性的圓滿。…… 主在人世生活中，經常親身警告祂的門徒們，有些事情他們還不能理解，他們應等待聖神的來臨。（若十六12-13）莠子摻入麥子的比喻（瑪十三24-30）生動地說明福傳的一個要點：敵人會侵佔天國的空間，並播種傷害，但最終敵人被麥子的善良所克服。」（224-225）聖神有時推動人前進，但亦有時阻止。（參見宗16：6）儘管邪惡勢力不斷蔓延，然而時間屬於天主。只要信靠上主，黑夜終會過去。急於求成，走錯一步，結果可能是全盤失敗。

教宗方濟各一向關顧受迫害的基督徒。他曾說：「國家和國際的法律體制必須承認、保障並捍衛宗教自由。那是人性和身為自由人的固有權利，也是健康民主的指標，和國家合法性的主要根源。」又說：「世界上的基督徒遭到最多的歧視，令我極為傷痛。今日對基督徒的迫害，甚至比初期教會的幾個世紀還要嚴重，殉道的基督徒比那個時代還要多。」相信聖父也為中國受迫害的基督徒感到憂傷。故此，我們認為任何協議，必須以保障宗教自由和停止宗教迫害為基礎。然而在二月初，中共開始實施新的《宗教事務條例》，加強對宗教的控制。因此，我們認為即將達成的協議不可能令中國政府停止迫害教會和侵犯宗教自由。

最可敬的閣下，我們希望你，與你的主教弟兄、司鐸團和羊群懇切為中國教會的合一和牧靈事業祈禱；我們懇求你本著對天主子民的愛，明智地請聖座再三思量目前的協議，臨崖勒馬。

願全能的天主降福在中國的教會！

中華殉道諸聖，為我等祈！

發起人是大學教授、講師、研究人員、人權工作者、律師：

陳家洛 (香港）
鄭宇碩 (香港）
張耀良 (香港）
朱偉志 (香港）
鍾子祺 (香港）
黎恩灝 （倫敦，英國）
林榮鈞 (香港）
梁旭明 (香港）
馬國明  (香港）
莫哲暐 （歐文，美國）
譚翼輝 （三藩市，美國）
丁偉 (香港）
杜耀明 (香港）
羅哲斯 （倫敦，英國）
余仲賢 （北愛爾蘭，英國）

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Global Petition: An Open Letter to Conferences of Catholic Bishops Across the World Regarding the Possible Agreement Between the Holy See and the Government of the People’s Republic of China
全球聯署：就聖座與中華人民共和國政府可能達成之協議致全球主教團公開信