It looks like the Roman Catholic Church is going official in China:
Representatives from the Vatican and China are expected to meet before the end of the month in Rome in an effort to finalize a deal on the ordination of bishops on the mainland, a move aimed at ending a longstanding dispute, according to Catholic Church sources familiar with the negotiations.
The Church sources also told Reuters that China is preparing to ordain at least two new bishops before the end of the year and these appointments would have the blessing of the Vatican. A person with ties to the leadership in Beijing confirmed that these ordinations would go ahead.
For more than six decades, China's ruling Communist Party has strongly opposed Rome's right to ordain Chinese bishops in a bitter contest for authority over as many as 10 million Catholics on the mainland. Bishops, priests and lay Catholics loyal to Rome have faced persecution, which has sparked skepticism over the détente in some Catholic quarters.
In yet a further sign of progress, the Vatican has reached a decision to recognize at least four Chinese bishops who were appointed by Beijing without the consent of the pope and so are considered illegitimate by the Holy See, according to Catholic Church sources and others briefed on the talks. The decision follows a breakthrough meeting in mid-August in Beijing between the Vatican representatives to talks with China and several of these bishops.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2016, @07:31PM
China and the Vatican, should go together perfectly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 22 2016, @12:26AM
Why, they both like to tell people how and what to think. But not the same things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2016, @07:37PM
Didn't we have that fight in the EU a couple of hundred years ago?
Hey, China, start practicing this line: "Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?" [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2016, @07:46PM
Hey, China, start practicing this line...[snip]
That's "Gina", not "China"!
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 21 2016, @07:44PM
Much as I think Government should stay out of religion and vise versa...
It seems silly to accept State ordained Bishops as it does Pope commissioned Generals.
If the state is going to subsume the church then why bother to call it "Catholic" at all?
We've too many examples of religion taking over the state.
I can't think anything good will come of doing it the other way around.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Friday October 21 2016, @07:51PM
It's all about the Dolly Llamas.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday October 21 2016, @11:32PM
You should see what China does to its Muslims -- it forces them to parade down the streets holdings signs which say, "Allah is a pig-fucker" in Arabic.
However, the Chinese and the Vatican have more common ground, which is their tastes for sexual perversion -- Mao himself was a renowned sexual pervert and kept many mistresses of questionable age. Don't believe me? It's all in this book. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 22 2016, @03:15PM
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 22 2016, @05:48AM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Saturday October 22 2016, @11:28PM
The history of China reinforces the notion that the state needs to keep a very tight rein on religions. Westerners used to the Protestant Heretic Rebellion and the Thirty Years War do not understand why China (and it is nothing to do with Communist Atheist doctrine) suppresses Fa-lun-gong and Crazy Evangelical Bible Smugglers. But if you understood how fragile a dynasty is, and how quickly a movement to overthrow a dynasty can snowball, you would not blame them. Europe never had to deal with the Tai'ping, the Yellow Turbans, the Boxers, or western imperial powers that demanded 100 to 1 deaths of citizens of Shanghai for the killing of a few missionaries. Not to mention the Star Trek movie with Spock's half-brother in it.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday October 23 2016, @04:47AM
Enlighten (heh) me: how, precisely, does one control where someone else reincarnates? If my own experience is anything to go by, people who need to reincarnate generally come back close to where their unresolved issues are.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2016, @07:57PM
The separation of church and state has been one of the most successful lies in the history of religion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2016, @09:51PM
Maybe a partial lie, but not complete. I would much rather the church be forced to influence people through their religion instead of directly controlling people from the state. I think your gripe is actually about human nature, people band together and work for common goals. Until religion really takes a back seat to people's daily lives we will continue to have this problem.
Or enlightened humans. haha
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Saturday October 22 2016, @01:53PM
Not as big as the lie about the very existence of their magic sky daddy or their happy magical afterlife. Neither of which exist, of course, but for some reason 99% of the population is so droolingly retarded they actually believe this dick shit.
They are hardly subtle about the separation of church and state lie. They put references to religion on money, in the pledge of allegiance, and elsewhere. To serve on a jury all the way to being President, one must swear to mystical sky daddy's penis.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2016, @10:41PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesaropapism [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Funny) by fritsd on Friday October 21 2016, @10:44PM
It's all because Baron Vladimir Harkonnen [wikipedia.org] set a bad example.
PS: If you look at paintings of Henry VIII, it looks like he would easily win in a pub fight. I can imagine nobody dared to tell him: "Sire, I think that is a bad idea"
(Score: 3, Touché) by archfeld on Friday October 21 2016, @07:51PM
I knew it was just a matter of time. How long could the catholic church stay away from a county with 100,000,000 young boys ?
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2016, @09:56PM
Who will probably never know the touch of a woman they didn't pay for.
Mull on that for a while.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 22 2016, @12:29AM
Why? Because the 95 million young girls are all lesbians?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 22 2016, @05:17AM
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 22 2016, @05:40AM
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Saturday October 22 2016, @06:22PM
I agree, despite my snarky post. A few bad men have cast a stain on the reputation of many well meaning and faithful priests striving to do good work. Indeed it is the lofty position they are placed in that causes such a backlash when those bad apples are revealed. The church leadership bears even more of the blame for failing to take direct and decisive action when needed. I feel the same about cops, when men, and women, are held to a higher standard, and then reveal that despite everything, they are just men and women and subject to the same temptations and failures as the rest of us, do fail it is always going to cause them to fall further than the common man or woman.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge