Shanghai’s would-be Catholic bishop has been a virtual prisoner in that city’s main seminary for nine months and counting, his penalty for openly challenging China‘s ruling Communist Party by withdrawing from the country’s official bodies that oversee the church.

The treatment dealt out to Thaddeus Ma Daqin is the most glaring and high-level example of China‘s heavy-handed control of the church and the challenge that poses for the Roman Catholic Church as cardinals gather to choose a new pope.

As the College of Cardinals meets at the Vatican for a second day, the fate of the church in China is receiving scant attention amid bigger concerns over priest shortages, clerical sexual abuse scandals, and giving greater voice to women and laypeople. Yet China will certainly be an issue before the next pontiff, not only because of continuing repression of Catholics in the country, but also because China‘s rising economic and diplomatic status is propelling it ever more quickly toward the center of global affairs.

“It would be worth it to see China‘s authorities open their minds and lose their fear and distrust of religion,” parishioner John Liu said while standing in the weather-beaten courtyard of Beijing‘s 400-year-old Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

He was hopeful the new pope could help the mend ties with China, but didn’t think it could happen quickly: “It will take time,” he said.

At his ordination last July, Ma told the congregation he was withdrawing from China‘s official bodies to focus on his pastoral work, a gesture of independence that enraged religious officials present at Shanghai’s St. Ignatius Cathedral.

They took him directly from the church to suburban Sheshan seminary for what was at first termed a retreat. In December, they revoked his bishop title, saying he had broken Chinese rules by taking steps to ensure his ordination was acceptable to Rome. The Vatican has refused to accept the move.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI made improving relations with Beijing a priority during his eight-year pontificate, writing a historic letter to the Chinese faithful in 2007 in hopes of uniting the divided church under his wing. He created two Hong Kong-based cardinal positions, and appointed a senior Hong Kong archbishop to a top Vatican office — giving the church in China a voice in Holy See decision-making.

But there was little progress on the ground, with continued detentions of Catholic …read more
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