A participant of the government-sanctioned Eighth National Congress of Catholic Representatives, who requested anonymity, sent ucanews.com his account of the three-day meeting in Beijing. The English translation follows:

The long-awaited Eighth National Congress of Catholic Representatives finally took place. The phrase “long-awaited” describes the feelings of different kinds of people: some had hoped that it would not convene while others were only too eager to go.

After the illicit episcopal ordination of Father Joseph Guo Jincai, Church media and netizens made little comment on the congress. The Holy See did not have many official words to say, either. Since most people thought it was inevitable, they refrained from putting more pressure on the participants.

However, Rome’s restraint did not reduce the Chinese government’s anxiety. Officials diverted pressure from Beijing to local governments, requiring United Front Work Departments and religious affairs bureaux ensure enough delegates attended the congress, especially key figures.

The lists of the congress’ representatives and its standing committee were set after several rounds of consultations between Beijing and local governments. Local officials attached great importance to this matter so we can understand why some places used police to force the bishops to Beijing for the meeting.

This congress was greatly different from the previous ones when the delegates could choose whether to attend or not. But this time, provincial officials gathered all delegates of their provinces or municipalities several days beforehand to unite their thinking. Then everyone went to Beijing together.

The message of this pre-congress meeting was simple: the congress is a milestone. It must ensure the participants love the country and the Church, ensure the candidates would be elected unanimously and that all participants attend the whole congress. Of course, local officials also privately reminded us not to talk too much, just finish our task.

Each local delegation was accompanied by United Front and religious officials ensure they arrived in Beijing together. That’s why there were more than 300 Catholic participants and nearly 100 officials in the congress.

On the morning of Dec. 7, the congress began with preparatory meetings to confirm the members of the presidium. That was followed by a long speech of Anthony Liu Bainian, recounting history of the China Church from the Opium War of 1839-42 up to the present day and denouncing the Vatican’s policies. This old tune often appears at patriotic education lectures, but spending a long time to recount history in such kind of meeting is a rare practice.

It showed two things: first, the pressure to convene this congress is huge, so the authority must set the tone to denounce the Vatican’s China policy; second, Liu is really old.

At the afternoon’s opening ceremony, Zhu Weiqun, vice-minister of the United Front Work Department and Wang Zuoan, director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs arrived.

Director Wang addressed the participants. Bishop Ma then recounted the work of CCPA and BCCCC in the past six years. He cited many figures to show the two bodies have done a lot of good things. They also made some changes to the CCPA constitution.

Most bishops were present at the congress, except for Bishop Joseph Li Liangui of Cangzhou (Xianxian).

The morning of the second day was for small group discussions. Most of us chatted and made jokes. Of course, there were some priests who sang the praises of the authorities.

Local dioceses made their reports in the afternoon. It started with Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing. The presenters all narrated contributions from their dioceses. The longest one was Father Simon Li Zhigang, diocesan administrator of Chengdu, who spoke for half an hour, making everybody exhausted.

On the third and last day were the elections. The participants passed the work reports by clapping their hands and elections of leaders were by a show of hands.

Some bishops who sat in the front did not raise their hands to vote for anything. But these were counted as votes of support as well.

All seats in the congress were pre-arranged. Religious officials could see clearly from the back who did not attend.

State leader Jia Qinglin met congress delegates in the afternoon. We arrived early at the Great Hall of the People and lined up in an orderly way on a curved staircase. We stood stiffly for 15 minutes and became tired until Jia came.

His speech had a strong tone, reiterating the policy of the Communist Party has no change and emphasizing on resisting infiltration of foreign forces.

Some delegates at the front row were eager to shake hands with Jia and other senior state officials. A priest from Anhui province even cried aloud, “How are you, Chief?”

Related reports:
Unapproved bishop elected to top China job
Church personnel kept under close watch
Catholic congress gets under way in Beijing

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