In Pope Benedict XVI'S June 30 letter to mainland Catholics giving guidelines for Church life, he also announced the revocation of faculties previously granted to the China Church and pastoral directives concerning it.

The pope revoked "all the faculties previously granted in order to address particular pastoral necessities that emerged in truly difficult times."

He explained that this decision came after "some positive developments" in the China Church situation, "increased opportunities and greater ease in communications" between China and Rome, and "requests sent to Rome by various bishops and priests."


Faculties and special privileges regarding how clergy could administer sacraments under difficult situations were granted to the China Church -- those given in 1978, 1981 and 1988 the most widely known -- as Church activities revived in China following the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).

Anthony Lam Sui-ki, senior researcher of the Hong Kong diocese's Holy Spirit Study Centre, sees the new papal letter as having the potential to help unify the China Church.

When the faculties and special privileges were granted, they were not known throughout the Church on the mainland, Lam told UCA News July 2. When the Holy See suspended them in late 1990s, the same problem recurred, he said.

"This created many controversies, and different Church people have adopted different canonical and ecclesiastical bases to support their respective stances," said Lam.

In his view, a reference to the Code of Canon Law would have made Pope Benedict's letter clearer. He thinks that the phrase "in line with canon law" should be added to the end of the last sentence of section 18, on the revocation of the previous directives: "The doctrinal principles that inspired them now find a new application in the directives contained herein."

Lam is the author of The Catholic Church in Present-Day China Through Darkness and Light, published in 1994, which contains a chapter on the issue.

In his book, Lam noted that when the Church activities revive in late 1970s, not many China bishops were in communion with the pope. When the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples granted the faculties and special privileges in 1978, this provided a basis for the "underground" Church to develop.

Many of these measures were granted as exceptions to canon law to handle the vacuum created when bishops or diocesan authorities were prevented from carrying out their pastoral duties. One example was allowing clergy to go beyond diocesan boundaries and administer sacraments to Catholics anywhere.

Another exception allowed mainland bishops to ordain Catholic men as priests if they were firm in their faith, virtuous, willing to observe celibacy and loyal to the pope. Formal theological education was not necessary.

In 1981, Bishop Peter Joseph Fan Xueyan of Baoding in Hebei province secretly ordained three priests as bishops. With Holy See's acknowledgement, Bishop Fan and other bishops appointed by Pope Pius XII also privately ordained new bishops. From 1980 to 1993, it is believed that about 80 bishops were ordained secretly.

These so-called underground bishops were not affiliated with government-approved "open" Church organizations. Many of them interpreted Bishop Fan's faculties as applicable to all bishops appointed by Pope Pius XII.

In 1988, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples issued the influential "Eight-Point Directive on Dealings with China," which required that all communicatio in sacris (sacramental communion) be avoided with bishops and priests belonging to the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA), a government-approved structure to administer the "open" Church in China.

The directive pointed out that the CPA in 1957 issued a proclamation saying the Church "had broken all relationships with the Pope and the Holy See" and announced the Church was to be "under the direct control of the government." It advised mainland Catholics to look for priests in communion with the pope when they attended Mass and received the sacraments.

Such directives have strengthened the growth of the underground Catholic communities. Many of them were still following those directives when Pope Benedict revoked them in his recent letter.

UCAN
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