BEIJING -- Pope Francis has spoken of his admiration for Chinese culture. He has greeted a delegation from China, accepting a silk imprint of an ancient inscription about Christianity. And he had his picture taken with a Chinese bishop in St. Peter's Square in October.
Now, he appears to be considering more significant action: a grand compromise with China's Communist leaders to heal the bitter, decades-old rift that has divided generations of Chinese Catholics and prevented the pope from openly exercising authority in the world's most populous country.
The Vatican says talks are continuing, and much work remains before a deal is done. But Francis' apparent determination to see a rapprochement with Beijing has already caused unease among some who are worried that he might give too much away to the hard-line Chinese president, Xi Jinping.
"Most agree that the two sides must talk," said a priest in Hebei, a northern province with many "underground" Catholics who reject state oversight.
"But there is the risk that if the pope moves too quickly, the underground priests will feel the church will lose its autonomy," he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Some people have sacrificed a lot, and worry that their sacrifice will not be recognized."
The Communist Party expelled Catholic missionaries after taking power in 1949, condemning them as tools of Western imperialists, and has required Catholics to worship in "patriotic" churches under state oversight. But a third or more of China's estimated 9 million to 12 million Catholics worship in "underground" congregations that are loyal to the pope and have resisted state control, sometimes enduring persecution and imprisonment.
The Vatican has long dreamed of returning to China, bringing the underground church out of the shadows and healing divisions among Chinese Catholics. Under Francis, negotiations with Beijing over reconciliation have gained momentum.
"We need patience, a lot of patience," Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, who has overseen talks with China, told reporters this month in Bologna, Italy.
Though expectations have been building, a breakthrough has been elusive given the Communist government's deep suspicion of foreign and religious influences as subversive, and the fears of Chinese Catholics wary of state interference in their faith, said people closely following the talks. "There are still difficult issues that are not yet agreed upon," said the Rev. Jeroom Heyndrickx, acting director of the Ferdinand Verbiest Institute in Belgium, which studies Catholicism in China.
The central dispute is over the power to name new bishops and the fate of existing bishops in China. For the Catholic Church, bishops are divine successors of the apostles, to be appointed by the pope. But China has long insisted on controlling ordinations, arguing that anything else amounts to interference in its internal affairs.
Most Chinese bishops are recognized by the Vatican and the Chinese authorities, but there are several in the state-backed church who are excommunicated and working without papal approval, including some rumored to have broken their vows of chastity and fathered children.
There are also more than two dozen underground bishops, many of whom are viewed with suspicion by the government, and a few of whom are believed to be in prison.
Any deal would have to decide what happens to both groups. "The Vatican can't be seen as selling out people who have suffered and gone to jail for their faith," said a Vatican official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the secretive talks.
Xi has repeatedly warned against religion's being used to undermine Communist rule, and his government has torn down crosses from Protestant churches in eastern China and instituted new controls on worship.
But an environmental foundation run by an official with long-standing ties to Xi attended a Vatican conference in September and presented the pope with a gift heavy with symbolism: a silk drape bearing an inscription from an ancient tablet that records the presence of Christianity in China nearly 1,400 years ago.
One benefit of reconciliation for the Chinese government may be that the Vatican eventually decides to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing and cut formal ties with Taiwan, the self-governing island that China considers part of its territory.
Already, most bishops appointed by the state-controlled church quietly win the pope's approval before ordination, or seek and receive papal forgiveness and acceptance afterward. But Beijing sometimes appoints bishops against the Vatican's wishes, and the Vatican sometimes appoints bishops without Beijing's approval. In August, Cardinal John Tong, the bishop of Hong Kong, disclosed in a pastoral letter that "the Chinese government is now willing to reach an understanding" on the issue. But he also acknowledged concerns among members of the underground church and their supporters.
"They wonder if Vatican officials or the pope himself may go against the principles of the church," he noted, before assuring parishioners that Francis "would not accept any agreement that would harm the integrity of faith of the universal church."
Supporters of Francis' approach said the Chinese church was in danger of splintering further if there was not a compromise. Rival claims to lead some Chinese dioceses and the absence of bishops in others have left many priests and parishioners isolated or feuding, they said. There are as many as 70 dioceses in China without a bishop, said Anthony S.K. Lam, executive secretary of the Holy Spirit Study Center in Hong Kong.
"These days it's widely accepted that bishops need the Holy Father's approval to serve -- maybe there are just a few older people who might disagree," said the Rev. Francis Li Jianlin, a priest in the government-registered church in Henan province, in central China. "The acceptance of both sides will be needed, but the method is still being explored."
In a sign of the divisiveness of the issue, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the outspoken retired bishop of Hong Kong, wrote in August that Francis was too eager for a deal with Beijing and argued that "the possibility of an unacceptable agreement now looks likely."
Religion on 12/03/2016