Vatican City, Dec 17, 2010 / 13:13 pm
The Vatican issued a sharp rebuke to China for forcing bishops and others loyal to Rome to take part in elections for Catholic organizations controlled by the ruling communist party.
The incidents “manifest a repressive attitude with regard to the exercise of religious liberty, which it was hoped had been consigned to the past in present-day China,” the Vatican said in a statement issued Dec. 17.
“The persistent desire to control the most intimate area of citizens’ lives, namely their conscience, and to interfere in the internal life of the Catholic Church does no credit to China. On the contrary, it seems to be a sign of fear and weakness rather than of strength; of intransigent intolerance rather than of openness to freedom and to effective respect both of human dignity and of a correct distinction between the civil and religious spheres.”
The strong language reflects growing tensions in Rome’s relations with Beijing.