It is living proof of the great barter, or rather, of the sale of the most loyal prelates. A sale that the Vatican is preparing to sign by renewing the agreement on the appointment of bishops signed with Beijing for another two years. He is Monsignor Vincenzo Guo Xijin. For most of the more than 70,000 baptized in the diocese of Mindong, in south-eastern China, he was the only worthy heir of James Xie Shiguang, the “clandestine” bishop who died in 2005 without ever having come to terms with the Chinese communist authorities .
Taking advantage of his disappearance, the Catholic Patriotic Association – or the surrogate of the Catholic Church considered an appendage of the Communist Party – had tried to impose the trusted Monsignor Zhan Silu. It hadn’t been a big move. The faithful of the region had immediately turned their backs on him criticizing – as reported by the agency of Catholic missionaries Asia News – his inordinate ambition and his obvious submission to the directives of Beijing. Accusations that soon cost him also a decree of excommunication from the Holy See. Even before the excommunication, the void left by Monsignor James had been filled by Monsignor Vincenzo, who soon earned the title of new “clandestine” pastor. In September 2018, the signing of the provisional agreement between China and the Vatican for the appointment of bishops had arrived to overturn the cards. Following those agreements, the diocese of Mindong was transformed into a sort of pilot area for the practical verification of the agreements. Thus – while Monsignor Vincenzo was demoted to auxiliary bishop – the Pope lifted the excommunication of Monsignor Zhan Silu and promoted him to official pastor of the community. For two years Monsignor Vincenzo chewed bitter hoping that the evident iniquity of the decision would be canceled along with the rest of the agreements. But when he understood that nothing would change and the Holy See would go its own way, he decided to let it go. And so on Sunday, at the end of the Mass, he announced his resignation to the faithful with a speech that under the tones – apparently humble and submissive – hides the indignation for the injustice suffered and the anger at the Vatican’s submission to Beijing. “I am incompetent … I have no talent … I am not in step with the times … I do not want to be an obstacle to progress”, so Monsignor Vincenzo Guo Xijin explained the decision to resign from all offices to dedicate himself to a life of prayer alone.
But the farewell of that honest and respected bishop now sounds like an indictment of a Vatican ready to sacrifice not only him, but a large part of that “underground” Church which from the advent of Communism to today has suffered violence, harassment and prevarications, but it guaranteed the survival of a faith free from the orders and directives of the Communist Party. A faith condemned to disappear together with its shepherds.
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