Vatican City, Mar 25, 2010 / 17:02 pm
A joint Vatican-Chinese commission to discuss the matter of formation of priests and religious within the Church of China wrapped up three days of meetings on Wednesday. Among the conclusions of the sessions was the need for "concrete steps" in the Chinese Church to create unity between clergy and the faithful.
During this year's plenary meeting, the delegations from China and the Holy See examined themes tied to the human, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral formation of semarians and consecrated people, as well the long term formation of priests.
According to the Vatican statement recognizing the conclusion of the meetings, some "relevant challenges" in China today are the new pastoral demands of evangelizing in the dynamic and complex Chinese society and difficulties arising from formation of clergy.
The statement recognized that the Catholic bishops of China are on the front lines in the work of formation and that "fraternal collaboration" will continue to be offered to them.