Interpretation of the Letter of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Chinese Catholics <br/><br/>
In the July 22 edition of the Kung Kao Po, the official newsletter from the Diocese of Hong Kong, Fr. Jeroom Heyndrickx of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium was quoted to express his personal opinion on the “Letter of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Chinese Catholics”. However, because Cardinal Joseph Zen, Bishop of Hong Kong, is part of the special committee set up by the Pope to discuss the matters regarding the Catholic faithful in China, he expressed a different kind of opinion in the same newsletter.<br/><br/>
Fr. Heyndrickx: 
Paragraph 1 (starting from "I understand the meaning of the Pope's letter as follows.") "Bishop and priests of both communities may concelebrate..."<br/><br/>
Paragraph 7 "Let Chinese Catholics peacefully celebrate the Eucharist together."<br/><br/>
Cardinal Zen: 
“It is not precise to state matters so simply. What is allowed is concelebration with Bishops in the "official" Church, who are now in communion with the Holy Father, but not with those who are still illegitimate and not reconciled.”<br/><br/>
Fr. Heyndrickx: 
Also in Paragraph 1 "There is at present no longer any reason to keep an underground Church Community going in China."<br/><br/>
Paragraph 8 "underground bishops are encouraged to apply for recognition by civil authorities."<br/><br/>
Cardinal Zen: 
“No. This is not in the letter. What the letter says is: ‘The clandestine condition is not a natural feature of the Church's life’ and those who ‘have felt themselves constrained to opt for clandestine consecration’ did so because they did not wish ‘to be subjected to undue control over the life of the Church.’”<br/><br/>
“The underground bishops are not encouraged to apply for registration; they are only given the faculty or, rather, the heavy responsibility to make a "very difficult decision" for their individual dioceses as to whether they should seek recognition.”<br/><br/>
“Fr. Heyndrickx seems to be confused; he reads too many things into the letter of the Holy Father. This risks disturbing the wonderful balance achieved in the letter between truth and charity, and it is a serious matter!”