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A30 world news
Diaranson 30 september 2020

Vatican defends China bishop negotiations on eve of US visit

(AP) — The Vatican on ago when the Chinese com- "It's clear that the Vatican
Tuesday answered its munists came to power. wants this (deal) because it
critics and defended its Beijing had long insisted that hopes that this little, frag-
pursuit of an extended it must approve appoint- ile thing can grow into oth-
agreement with China on ments as a matter of its na- er aspects of the life of the
bishop nominations, ac- tional sovereignty; the Vati- church," he said.
knowledging difficulties can has insisted on the pope's China, for its part, has de-
but insisting the effort divine authority to choose fended its treatment of reli-
had achieved limited, pos- the successors of Christ's gious groups, including re-
itive results. apostles. strictions on minors attend-
Details of the 2018 accord ing religious services. Recent
The Holy See articulated its never were released. Francis actions that followed Bei-
position on the eve of a visit church. and did not enter into po- has said it involves a process jing's long-standing policies
by U.S. Secretary of State The critics say the deal also litical or diplomatic relations of dialogue, including over on Muslim groups reflect
Mike Pompeo, who this has emboldened the Bei- with China. the nomination of bishop China's increasingly harsh
month wrote a harsh critique jing government in its harsh "The Provisional Agreement candidates, but that he has approach toward all ethnic
of the Vatican's 2018 accord crackdown on religious be- exclusively treats the process the final say. and religious minorities un-
with China and suggested the lievers that has only increased for the appointment of bish- Vatican officials have ac- der the Communist Party's
Vatican had compromised its in the two years since the ac- ops: an essential question for knowledged the agreement leader, President Xi Jinping.
moral authority by signing cord was signed. the life of the church and for is far from ideal and repre- Demands that minority
it. Pompeo is scheduled to Pompeo criticized the ac- the necessary communion sented the best agreement it groups adopt national stan-
headline a religious liberty cord in an essay published in between the pastors of the could get. They said that if dards in education and cul-
conference on Wednesday the conservative ecumenical Chinese Catholic Church the Vatican didn't hammer ture have been accompanied
with the Vatican secretary of magazine First Things, echo- with the bishop of Rome and out something new, there by well-documented crack-
state and foreign minister, ing the Trump administra- with the bishops through- was a risk of the Catholic downs on Tibetans, Uighurs
two architects of the deal. tion's overall criticism of Bei- out the world," Tornielli Church in China becoming and other Xinjiang Muslims,
The 2018 accord was aimed jing that has grown amid the wrote in an editorial appear- irrevocably split. and the destruction of places
at uniting the Catholic flock coronavirus pandemic in an ing in Wednesday's edition The Rev. Bernardo Cer- of worship, including the
in China, which is divided election year. of the Vatican newspaper, vellera, a China-watcher and removal of exterior crosses
between an official church "Two years on, it's clear that L'Osservatore Romano. editor of the Catholic news from church buildings.
recognized and regulated by the Sino-Vatican agreement Tornielli quoted the Vatican agency AsiaNews, said the The other prong of Xi's
the Beijing government, and has not shielded Catho- secretary of state, Cardinal accord hadn't borne much crackdown is aimed at giving
an underground church that lics from the (Communist) Pietro Parolin, as saying it fruit in the past two years new life to the atheist party's
has been loyal to Rome. Party's depredations, to say was worth negotiating an other than preventing a pos- dedication to the eradication
The agreement, which in- nothing of the Party's horrific extension to the deal despite sible schism if China con- of religion in general.
cluded a process for nomi- treatment of Christians, Ti- unspecified "difficulties" ag- tinued nominating bishops One of the Vatican accord's
nating new bishops and reg- betan Buddhists, Falun Gong gravated by the virus out- without the pope's consent. biggest critics has been the
ularizing the status of seven devotees and other believers," break. "However, the fact remains retired archbishop of Hong
bishops who weren't recog- Pompeo wrote. "Even though contact was that during all this time, Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen,
nized by Rome, was intended Noting that the deal is up blocked in recent months due there has been an increase in who has accused Parolin, the
as a first step toward thawing for renewal when it expires to the pandemic, the results the persecution and control secretary of state, of "manip-
decades of estrangement be- next month, Pompeo wrote: have been positive, although of diverse (religious) com- ulating" the pope into agree-
tween China and the Vatican. "Now more than ever, the limited, and suggest going munities, both underground ing to the deal and selling out
Critics of the accord, includ- Chinese people need the Vat- forward with the application and official," he said in an in- China's underground faithful
ing the retired archbishop of ican's moral witness and au- of the agreement for another terview. in the process.
Hong Kong, some under- thority in support of China's determined period of time," As evidence, Cervellera cited Zen was in Rome earlier this
ground faithful in China and religious believers." he said. restrictions forbidding chil- week, hoping to meet with
conservative Catholics else- In its first official response to The issue of bishop nomi- dren to attend Mass or re- Francis to discuss develop-
where, accused the Vatican of such criticism, Vatican edito- nations had been the main ceive religious education, as ments in China and Hong
betraying Catholics in China rial director Andrea Tornielli stumbling block to restoring well as reports of even official Kong, Italian media reported.
who for decades refused to recalled that the accord only diplomatic relations that were churches in China coming He left without getting an
join the state-sanctioned covers bishop nominations, severed nearly seven decades under televised surveillance. audience.

Swedes indict surgeon for stem-cell windpipe transplants

(AP) — A Swedish prose- pipe partially made from a of falsifying his resume and physical injuries and great — only three are still alive.
cutor on Tuesday indicted patient's own stem cells. misrepresenting his work. suffering," and "have been Critics say Macchiarini skirt-
on charges of aggravated In December 2018, Bjork de- When Macchiarini's first carried out with absolutely ed medical ethics to carry out
assault a surgeon believed cided to reopen a previously windpipe transplant was re- no legal basis." dangerous procedures with
to have made headlines discontinued investigation ported in the medical journal "I have made the assessment no proven benefit and that he
in 2011 for carrying out into three cases. Additional Lancet in 2008, it was hailed that the three operations are fabricated descriptions of this
the world's the first stem- written evidence was ob- as a breakthrough in regen- therefore to be considered patients' conditions.
cell windpipe transplants, tained and more interviews erative medicine. Macchia- as aggravated assault," Bjork Bjork declined to explain
saying three people had were held with individuals rini's new airway — partly said. "It is the former surgeon why he believes the opera-
laboratory-made tracheas in Sweden, Belgium, Britain, made using stem cells from at Karolinska University tions were carried out with
implanted at Sweden's the United States and Spain, the patient — was thought to Hospital who alone should no legal basis. These details
leading hospital. Bjork said in a statement. herald a new era where new bear the criminal responsibil- and explanations will first be
"It has become clear to me organs could be made in the ity." made at the main hearing, he
Although Mikael Bjork, di- that the operations were car- laboratory. Macchiarini earlier had dis- said, adding no date for that
rector of Public Prosecution, ried out in conflict with sci- Despite an independent puted the accusations, saying was set yet at the District
didn't name him, Swedish ence and proven experience," commission in Sweden that they were false. Court in Solna, in northern
news agency TT said the sur- he added. found numerous problems Of the 20 patients Mac- Stockholm.
geon was Dr. Paolo Macchia- Macchiarini was fired from in Macchiarini's work, the chiarini operated on to pro- Last year, an Italian court
rini, who was once consid- Sweden's prestigious Karo- Lancet has so far declined to vide them with an artificial sentenced Macchiarini to 16
ered a pioneer in regenerative linska Institute in March retract the study. windpipe — from countries months in prison for forging
medicine, credited with cre- 2016 for breaching medical Bjork said the operation had including Spain, Russian, documents and abuse of of-
ating the world's first wind- ethics after being accused caused the victims "serious Iceland, Britain and the U.S. fice.