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– Vincenzo Guo leaves his auxiliary post in Fujian province to avoid becoming an ‘obstacle to progress’
– The cleric says he can no longer keep up with the changing times.
A Chinese bishop resigned a few weeks before the Vatican and Beijing are expected to renew a controversial appointments agreement, saying he could not keep up with changing times.
Vincenzo Guo Xijin announced his resignation as auxiliary bishop at an evening mass in eastern Fujian province on Sunday, saying he did not want to become a “roadblock to progress” that hampers the reconciliation of official and underground Catholic churches.
Before Beijing and the Vatican reached an agreement on the appointment of bishops in China in September 2018, Guo was the bishop of the Mindong diocese.
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Guo is recognized by the Vatican but not by the official Catholic Church of China and as such, Guo was one of the leaders of the unofficial church.
But on instructions from the Holy See, Guo stepped aside to become an auxiliary bishop and allow Vincent Zhan Silu, a prelate recognized by Beijing, to become bishop.
Zhan had been excommunicated by the Holy See because he was consecrated without papal approval, but the Pope reconciled with him when the agreement was signed in 2018.
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Church watchers have said that by sealing the deal, the Vatican hoped it would help pave the way for reconciliation between the government-sanctioned church and the unofficial underground.
Addressing the congregation on Sunday, Guo said his resignation came at an “extraordinary historical moment” and that he lacked the talent to keep up with the changing times.
“Tonight will be the last public mass that I preside: starting tomorrow I will only hold private masses,” Guo said, according to transcripts of a speech circulated online.
“My faithful, you must remember that your faith is in God and not in humans. Humans are prone to change, but God is not.
“I can no longer keep up with (the changes of) this era. However, I do not want to become an obstacle to progress. That is why I have decided to resign. I submitted my resignation to the Holy See last month.”
It is understood that his resignation has not yet been formally accepted by Pope Francis.
Guo said he would no longer attend public events and would leave all administrative matters related to the diocese to Zhan.
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Father Bernardo Cervellera, director of AsiaNews, a Rome-based Catholic news agency, said Guo’s resignation underscored “the failure of reconciliation of China’s official and clandestine Catholic Church in Mindong.”
“The situation in Mindong is more complicated than the Vatican anticipated … It also shows that he (Guo) is skeptical about whether the renewal of the agreement could help the reconciliation of Chinese clandestine communities and officials,” Cervellera said.
William Nee, Amnesty International’s researcher on China, said that through his resignation, Guo expressed his inability to “change the overall trajectory” of the politically-led Church in China.
“He indicates that he is no longer comfortable cooperating in such a system, which implicitly does not seem to give God and the integrity of faith the highest priority,” Nee said.
In 2018, Beijing signed a landmark agreement with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops in an interim period, but the details of the agreement were never made public. The deal is expected to be renewed before it expires later this month.
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