What happened in China between the Communists and Nationalists during the revolution isn’t the reason China is blocking the Pope from having the same level of control of China’s Catholics that he has over the rest of the world’s Catholics.
The Vatican is a sovereign nation. Of 195 countries in the world, three are not members of the UN and the Vatican City/The Holy See is one of those three nations.
The independent papal state of less than 1,000 people chose not to join the UN.
Instead, the Vatican is a Permanent Observer in the UN and the Holy See enjoys, among other things, the right to participate in the general debate of the General Assembly; the right of reply; the right to have its communications issued and circulated directly as official documents of the UN assembly; and the right to co-sponsor draft resolutions and decisions that make reference to the Holy See. Source: Holy See Mission.org
The Vatican is listed as the smallest nation with the smallest population on the globe, yet the Pope rules over about a billion Catholics scattered throughout the world as if he were a world leader and they were the citizens of his nation.
In fact, since nations have banks, the Associated Press recently reported that the Vatican’s bank was mired in a laundering scandal.
The Pope is elected for life by the Church’s bishops as if he were a religious dictator. The Pope decides if it is wrong to divorce, have abortions, etc. He even prescribes dietary laws such as only eating fish on Friday.
Allowing the Pope to lead China’s Catholics would be the same as letting the US President lead all American expatriates living and working in China regardless of China’s laws.
In Part 3, we shall see how the Catholic Church waged war against all who threatened its existence.
Return to Religion’s “Cold War” with China – Part 1
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse