Vatican Renews ‘Deal With the Devil’

VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) – Despite fierce global opposition, Rome has renewed its controversial concordat with China, claiming that the deal has done away with “illegitimate bishops” and resulted in securing the “communion of all Chinese bishops with the pope.” Cdl. Joseph Zen begged Pope Francis not to renew the deal “The two parties have agreed to extend the experimental implementation phase of the provisional agreement for another two years,” a Vatican Press Office statement announced. “The Holy See considers the initial application of the agreement — which is of great ecclesial and pastoral value — to have been positive, thanks to good communication and cooperation between the parties on the matters agreed upon, ” a Vatican Press Office statement announced. Rome “intends to pursue an open and constructive dialogue for the benefit of the life of the Catholic Church and the good of Chinese people,” the statement noted. “It’s done,” Vatican secretary of state Cdl. Pietro Parolin told reporters, confirming the renewal of the secret agreement Thursday with separate but agreed statements from the Holy See and the Chinese Embassy in Rome. The concordat “regarding the appointment of bishops” was signed in Beijing on Sept. 22, 2018 and took effect a month later. ‘Deal With the Devil’ Damian Thompson, associate editor of Britain’s The Spectator, told Church Militant that ” the Vatican under Pope Francis has essentially done a deal with the Devil, betraying faithful and suffering Catholics and other Christians into the hands of their totalitarian persecutors.” “We should pay no attention to claims that this evil concordat is the work of Cdl. Parolin — dreadfully compromised though he is — and that the pope has merely been misled on this. The responsibility for this wicked act lies squarely with the pope himself,” Thompson stressed. Boasting that the deal had ended the existence of “illegitimate bishops” — i.e., prelates appointed by the Holy Father and not by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Parolin explained that the agreement would not be signed again but “simply extended for another two years ad experimentum.”

Vatican Renews ‘Deal With the Devil’