When it comes to the Vatican, I believe that the first reaction of many friends is the smallest country in the world. Located in the highlands northwest corner of Rome, the capital of Italy, this country covers an area of only 0.43 square kilometers. Don't underestimate it, this is the center of Catholicism in the world of the Holy See, and the Pope leads Catholic institutions around the world.
The Vatican has a very strong ideological influence by virtue of its religious status, and it is by virtue of this influence that it has established diplomatic relations with most of the countries on the planet, relying on this political form to be responsible for Catholic-related affairs within the countries with which diplomatic relations are established. Take the treasure island of Taiwan, the Vatican is also the most important country among the few countries with which it has established diplomatic relations.
However, the People's Republic of China has yet to establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
Why is that? Yun Shijun will do a specific analysis.
Let's look at the immediate cause first. Friends who follow the Vatican may remember the Vatican's canonization in 2000. At that time, the Pope of Rome canonized a group of missionaries and followers who were active in China in modern times but fanned the flames in the Western invasion of China at that time. There is no doubt that the Chinese people themselves cannot tolerate this practice of the Pope, which is undoubtedly equivalent to A slashing B, and B admitting that A cut well.
And the Holy See has a rule: the Pope is not wrong. This is something that many atheists cannot understand. In this way, even if the Holy See thinks that this move is inappropriate, but the authority of the Holy See is great, it is impossible to admit mistakes, and it is impossible to withdraw the canonization, so these so-called "saints" have become an insurmountable cut between China and the Vacan.
Of course, this incident is not the fundamental reason why China and the Vatican have not been able to establish diplomatic relations so far. Although "saints" are troublesome, from a political point of view, some things are also variable based on interest considerations. Japan, for example, has not formally apologized to China for its invasion of China, but China and Japan established diplomatic relations as early as 1972. Speaking of the United States, more than 30 years ago, the United States recognized one China as soon as it severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and then promulgated the Taiwan Relations Act, which is a serious interference in China's internal affairs, and the diplomatic relations between China and the United States are not good. In this way, the "saint" incident is a small witch.
Some people may think that the United States and Japan are well-known countries, and of course China must take good care of their relations. But the Vatican is not a fuel-saving lamp, although there is a gap between the United States and Japan, but because it is the center of global Catholicism, the world's largest religious organization, and the spiritual leader of one billion believers, its international influence will never be weak. The 120 dead people who have been canonized as "saints" will naturally not be obstacles to Sino-Vatican relations.
Here we want to talk about China's management system of Catholicism.
In China, although there is also Catholicism, it exists in the form of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, based on the three-self principle of "autonomy, self-support and self-biography", completely cut off from the Holy See politically and economically, and only has a historical inheritance relationship in terms of religion and culture.
This independence upset the Holy See. The basic organizing principle of the Catholic institutional system, that is, the supreme leadership of the Holy See over all Catholic branches, is the dual leadership of the spiritual sphere and the functioning and management of the Church. China's political and economic division, which only retains the inheritance of religious culture, is tantamount to denying the papal jurisdiction over Chinese Catholicism, which of course constitutes a structural conflict with the Vatican.
Why don't the rules of the Catholic Church work in China? On the surface, this is because the Catholic Church supported Western aggression in those years, and in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it incited believers not to cooperate with the communist regime.
As you know, China has been a centralized country since ancient times. And this social organization determines the supremacy of secular political power in China, and the central imperial court (government) as the political center not only has the power to govern any secular affairs, but also as a religion of spiritual belief, it must also be subordinate to political power and governed by political power. Friends who know a little about history will be familiar with it.
In terms of organizational structure, secular power is concentrated within the government organization, and a special department for religious affairs management is established. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, there were monks and Daolusi, which were under the management of the Ministry of Rites; The modern Administration of Religious Affairs is a government department.
In terms of recognition of religious leaders, although some religious leaders are also recognized by China, they only have moral and legal effect after obtaining the approval and canonization of secular powers, such as in ancient times, the Central Plains Dynasty would canonize some real people and national teachers. Looking at modern times, there will still be such canonization procedures for some religions, such as the current Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, which are canonized by the central governments of the Republic of China and New China, in order to qualify as the leader of Tibetan Buddhism.
This kind of clerical power is subordinate to the governing power, and the way the governing power is managed is the embodiment of the canonization of religious leaders by traditional Chinese power.
At the level of civilization, the mainstream ideology of the secular-dominated Chinese civilization is a secular ideology that advocates atheism, rather than a religion that advocates theism. In ancient times there was Confucianism, and in contemporary times there was communism.
China's classic secular social structure will inevitably lead to a fundamental conflict with the Vatican.
First, China's clerical power is subordinate to governing power, in contrast to the Vatican Catholic world. In the Middle Ages, the governing power of the Catholic world was subordinated to the ecclesiastical power, and although this model no longer exists, the ecclesiastical power and the governing power do not interfere with each other.
Second, in China, religious leaders were canonized by the central government, while in the medieval West, the Holy See canonized kings. In modern times, when Western political leaders come to power, they also retain the tradition of taking an oath according to the Bible to show the respect of the governing power for the clerical authority.
In reality, Catholicism has a unified organizational structure, which presents China with a big problem.
If you look at Islam or Buddhism, it is loosely organized and has no supreme real authority, so that political power can effectively manage and control these religions.
And the Catholic pope is in front of them, and if the pope, who is the supreme spiritual leader of Catholics, clashes with political power, Catholics also want to know the answer: Who is it listening to?
Under China's centralized system, the Pope is not the canonized Dalai Lama and Panchen. In this way, China's Catholic Church and the Holy See must be separated politically and economically.
This is the current policy towards Catholicism. Going a little further, the most important reason why Kangxi explicitly forbade Catholic preaching was due to the ban of the Holy See: Chinese believers were not allowed to worship ancestors, worship Confucius, and even prohibit hanging the imperial plaque given by Kangxi to the Catholic Church. Isn't it a naked provocation of the authority of the Kangxi Emperor? If you dare to challenge the imperial power, then you can only say goodbye.
In modern times, China, the master of agricultural civilization, was slapped in the face by the Western powers that were the first to enter industrial civilization, accompanied by the decline of central power, Catholicism seized the opportunity, and started China's idea. With the founding of New China, the central power was gradually strengthened and consolidated, the Catholic Church was still its usual practice, and the central power had to cut off the ties between the Holy See and the Chinese Catholic Church.
In summary, there is no room for reconciliation between the supreme Chinese government and the operating system of the Catholic organization of the Holy See. The Pope cannot accept China's political canonization, and China will not put the Church of Rome in charge of Chinese Catholic affairs. If this is the case, why should we do more to establish diplomacy between the two countries?
Of course, the situation is constantly changing. With the development of the times, there are gradually signs of breaking the ice between China and the Vatican. So, is it possible for China and the Vensatican to break down barriers in the future? What conditions does the Vatican agree to before China will allow the Vatican and the Holy See to enter China?