最近一周，从华尔街日报，到环球时报，再到美国耶稣会办的杂志America均报道了中梵即将签署关于主教任命的协议的消息时，明确说：教廷的一位重要人士或高级代表团可能在9月下旬访问中国，签署协议，内容是关于主教提名和任命。主教候选人将由教区选举、中国政府确认、外交部送交名单给梵帝冈，后者调查后进行否决或批准。将结果通知给中方，如果否决，北京再另外提交一位候选人。协议签署后，大陆七位“非法”主教会被教宗承认，但30多个地下主教的情况还未解决；今后还会面临中国主教团的地位、教区划分、教廷与台湾的关系等等协议还没有涉及的问题。
很多教会人士对此翘首以待，希望中梵的这个临时性协议能改善教会在大陆的处境，解决主教和教会与普世教会的共融问题。但是也有很多人担心，协议签署后，政 府 对 教会的操 纵 会更加名正言顺； 到时被玩弄、扯皮，如政治上的奥巴马一样，赢得了名声，但是难有实质性的改变。
一些教内人士批评这次协议谈判没有大陆教会人士的参与。认为既然教廷和中国政府是就宗教问题展开的外交协商，不是政治谈判，那么教会人士没有参与，于情于理说不过去。但也有学者认为，中国政府官员曾在90年代末说过：中国和梵蒂冈首先是国家关系，而不是宗教关系。如今国家关系没有建立，但是在宗教问题上展开了初步的会谈并建立了协议，说明对话确实在改变彼此的认知，这就是对话的积极效果。
也有很多教内人士透露出：外界已经炒作这个协议很久了，大家对此的期待都很节制，就怕最后又是推迟。反倒是中国教会本身，因为长期与普世教会脱节，神职人员的培育和再陶成的欠缺，对平信徒地位认识的不足，教会人才远远不及六十年前。即使签署了协议，教会状况并不会自然改善，教内人士需要齐心合力，改善和提高教会自身水平和形象。
现在把三家媒体的报道内容列在其后。
1）环球时报：梵蒂冈可能月底派团访中 谈主教任命协议
（中央社北京18日综合外电报导）中国官媒「环球时报」今天报导，梵蒂冈可能月底前会派遣代表团访问中国，若会谈顺利，双方可能就主教任命议题签署协议。
为了解决中国主教任命争议，梵蒂冈和北京正在进行高阶会谈。中、梵断绝外交关系已将近70年，主教任命问题一直是双方复交的最大障碍之一。
中共中央机关报「人民日报」旗下的「环球时报」指出，中、梵双方对于「原则问题」并无争议。
报导引述不具名消息来源报导，中、梵上次会谈是在梵蒂冈举行；这次教廷可能在9月下旬派遣代表团到中国进行会谈，「若会谈顺利，可能会签署协议」。
梵蒂冈消息人士上周向「环球时报」记者证实，教廷的一位重要人士可能在9月下旬访问中国。这位消息人士并未透露进一步细节。
专长研究天主教的中国社会科学院世界宗教研究所研究员王美秀，今天接受「环球时报」访问时表示，中国和梵蒂冈可能已达成共识，未来中国教区的主教应经中国政府批准，再由天主教教宗委任，并发布任命函。
梵蒂冈消息人士透露，中、梵签署主教任命协议前，教廷会发表官方文件，承认当前被梵蒂冈视为「不合法」的7名中国主教，包括先前已被教廷逐出教会的部分主教。
来自义大利的中国人民大学欧洲问题研究中心研究员郗士（Francesco Sisci），今天对「环球时报」记者表示：「协议中有关中国教会的部分应会相当广泛，且应也会包含未来进行会谈和变动的条款。」（译者：陈宜君/核稿：林治平）
2） https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/09/18/
Source: China and the Vatican to sign historic agreement by end of September
Gerard O’Connell
September 18, 2018
Pope Francis holds a letter presented by Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, during his general audience at the Vatican Jan. 10. Cardinal Zen says until the Vatican signs an agreement with China on the appointment of bishops, he will continue to speak against it. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
The Holy See and China are scheduled to sign an agreement in Beijing on the nomination of bishops sometime before the end of September. “It will be a historic breakthrough,” a Vatican source told America. He confirmed that a high-level Holy See delegation will travel to the Chinese capital for the signing and that a date has already been fixed for this ground-breaking event.
The agreement only deals with the question of the nomination of bishops. It gives each side a say in the selection of candidates, but it recognizes that the pope will have the final word in the appointment of bishops for the Catholic Church throughout mainland China.
Since the Communists came to power in 1949—they later expelled the papal representative and broke relations with the Holy See in 1951—Chinese authorities have insisted that Rome should “not interfere in the internal affairs of China.” This agreement offers a more pragmatic understanding of that declaration by acknowledging the pope’s key role in the nomination of bishops in the most populous country in the world.
Both sides consider it “a provisional agreement,” to be revisited in some years. Sources told America that the Holy See recognizes that it is “not a good agreement,” but it believes that it is the only one possible at present and that, in a small but highly significant way, it opens the door to developing a constructive and improving dialogue with the world’s emerging superpower.
America has learned that the text of the agreement will not be made public, even after the signing.
According to informed sources, the Holy See and Beijing have agreed on a process for the nomination of bishops. Candidates will be chosen at the diocesan level through the “democratic election” system that the Chinese authorities introduced in 1957, whereby the priests of the diocese, together with representatives of women religious and laypeople, vote from among the candidates presented by the authorities that supervise church affairs. The results of these elections will be sent to the Beijing authorities that oversee the church in China, including the bishops’ conference, which will examine them and then submit a name to the Holy See through diplomatic channels. The Holy See will have some months to carry out its own investigation of the candidate and, based on this work, the pope will either approve or exercise his veto. The Holy See will then communicate his decision to Beijing.
If the pope approves of the candidate, the process will continue. But if he exercises his veto, both sides will engage in a dialogue, and Beijing would eventually be expected to submit the name of another candidate.
The possibility of an agreement has been in the air for some time, but expectations were raised after a high-level Chinese delegation met a similar-ranking Holy See delegation in the Vatican last June. The Holy See, in response to the demands of Beijing, confirmed that Pope Francis would recognize the seven “illegitimate” Chinese bishops—that is, those who were ordained without the pope’s approval over the past decade or more, three of whom had been excommunicated. All seven had previously asked for reconciliation with the pope. This means that for the first time since 1957 (when Beijing began ordaining bishops without papal approval), all the Catholic bishops in mainland China will be in communion with the pope.
The pope’s decision to recognize the seven was well received by Chinese authorities; it opened the path to Beijing’s willingness to sign the agreement with the Holy See. That decision, taken at the highest levels, was communicated to the Vatican just over two weeks ago.
Not long after, the Foreign Ministry in Taiwan announced on Sept. 13 that it had obtained information “from various sources” that an agreement between the Vatican and China on “religious affairs” would most likely to be signed in September or October. This news was quickly picked up by media outlets, but neither Beijing nor the Vatican has officially confirmed it.
At the end of December 2017, there were 101 bishops in China (though some have died since); of these, 65 belong to the “open” church community that is recognized by the Chinese authorities; 36 belong to the “underground” church community and do not have such official recognition because they refuse to be part of the Patriotic Association, a government entity established in 1957 to control the church in China. The association is not recognized by the Holy See.
The upcoming agreement is the result of negotiations that were revived after Francis became pope in March 2013. They have been patiently conducted for several years under the leadership of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, appointed as secretary of state in August 2013, and with the assistance of Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, the emeritus president of the now-defunct Pontifical Council for Social Communications. The archbishop has been working toward this goal since the early 1980s. In recent times he headed the Holy See’s delegation to the Joint Working Group established in 2014.
America has learned that the Trump administration is not happy with the agreement, nor are many forces in political and economic fields in the United States, as well as some in the church there and elsewhere. They see it as weakening the struggle for religious freedom in China and point to the crackdown on religion in that country in recent months under President Xi Jinping.
The Holy See has historically been concerned about this fundamental freedom, but for religious reasons, not political ones. Pope Francis firmly believes in the culture of encounter, not that of confrontation. Sources in Rome say he is convinced that even in the present difficult situation of a crackdown on religion in China, more is to be gained through dialogue, encounter and friendship. The Jesuit pope, following in the footsteps of Matteo Ricci, the famous Italian Jesuit missionary who is buried in Beijing, has given strong leadership in this direction.
China, on the other hand, has always viewed religion through a political lens and has clearly reached the conclusion that there is much to be gained through signing an agreement with the Holy See, even though there are only some 12 million Catholics in the mainland. It understands that both sides share much in common on global issues and can work together toward peace and stability in the world.
After the signing of the provisional agreement, many questions remain to be resolved in bilateral negotiations. The first, and most important of these, relates to the situation of the more than 30 “underground” bishops and their communities.
To gain official recognition today, these bishops would have to join the Patriotic Association, but many will be reluctant to do so. In follow-up negotiations, the Holy See hopes to convince Beijing to bypass this requirement and to open up other ways for them to gain such recognition. It knows that the positive resolution of their situation is fundamental to bringing about reconciliation between the open and underground communities of the church in China.
The Holy See will also have to resolve other issues with Beijing, including the status of the Chinese bishops’ conference (not recognized by Rome because only Beijing-approved bishops belong to it); the number of dioceses in China (the Vatican claims there are 144 dioceses, including 32 vicariates or prefectures, while Beijing insists there are 96); and the possibility for Chinese bishops to freely visit the Holy See and for Vatican officials to visit them.
As for the question of establishing diplomatic relations, informed sources told America that this was not raised in the present negotiations with Beijing, nor was the question of the Holy See’s relations with Taiwan.
3）华尔街日报https://www.wsj.com/articles/
China and Vatican to Sign Landmark Deal Over Bishops
Francis X. Rocca
China and the Vatican are set to sign a landmark agreement later this month ending a long struggle between Beijing’s Communist rulers and the pope over who controls Catholicism in the world’s most populous country, according to two people familiar with the matter.
两位知情人士说，中国和梵蒂冈本月末准备签署一项里程碑式的协议，结束就北京和教皇谁来控制世界上人口最多国家的天主教这一问题的长期斗争。
Reactions to the deal, which gives both sides a say in appointing the church’s bishops in China, are likely to be sharply divided, with some hailing a diplomatic coup by the Vatican that draws China closer to the West and others warning of an important defeat for the principle of religious freedom.
协议使双方在任命中国区主教问题上同时拥有话语权，对该协议的反应可能尖锐对立，有人认为这是梵蒂冈让中国拉向西方的外交逆转，也有人会认为这是宗教自由原则的一次重要失败。 |
