Cardinal Zen warns of church’s schism over same-sex blessings

Cardinals divided over same-sex blessings as sharp divisions emerge at Vatican synod.

Joseph Zen is the leading ­opponent of the Catholic Church’s pact with the Chinese Communist Party. Picture: AFP

Outspoken Hong Kong cardinal Joseph Zen, the leading ­opponent of the Catholic Church’s pact with the Chinese Communist Party, has urged participants at the Vatican synod of 400 bishops and other church leaders to oppose what he terms a “plan of manipulation”.

The Synod on Synodality opened this week and will continue until October 29. It will then reconvene next October when recommendations to the Pope will be finalised.

In a letter dated September 21 and released this week, Cardinal Zen, 91, said: “I can easily be ­accused of ‘conspiracy theory’, but I see clearly a whole plan of manipulation. They (synodal organisers) begin by saying we must listen to all. Little by little they make us understand that among the ‘all’ are those whom we have ‘excluded’.

“Finally, we understand what they mean are people who opt for a sexual morality different from that of Catholic tradition … Often they claim not to have any agenda. This is truly an offence to our intelligence. Anybody can see which conclusions they are aiming at.’’

The former bishop of Hong Kong warned against “greater confusion and worry” caused by a push to use the synod to ­establish democracy in place of the church’s sacramental hierarchy, as the means of establishing doctrine.

In an unprecedented move, Pope Francis created a third cardinal for Hong Kong last weekend: Jesuit archbishop Stephen Chow, 64, who is a supporter of the Holy See’s agreement with China, that gives the CCP a major say in the appointment of bishops.

Cardinal Chow, who accompanied Francis to Mongolia ­recently, has said the Vatican’s approach to dialogue with China was working. Perceptions that it was naive were wrong.

In his letter, Cardinal Zen ­reminded delegates of “the great schism’’ threatening the Anglican Church over its approval of same-sex marriage.

On the positive side for Francis, his new instruction on the ­environment, released on Wednesday, has earned rave reviews from some in the environment movement and the church.

Marcene Mitchell, senior vice-president of climate change at the World Wide Fund for ­Nature, said the statement was “a critical reminder of the ­importance of leaders everywhere speaking to the urgency of the climate crisis”.

Franciscan professor at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, said that “like the oracles of other prophets, the Pope’s message is one sure to upset the powerful, wealthy and comfortable. In our contemporary context, those who benefit most from the circumstances that are contributing to the climate crisis are those who live in the Global North, especially in North America.’’

Cardinal Zen is one of five cardinals who has challenged the Pope in the lead-up to the synod over blessings for same-sex couples and women’s ordination to the diaconate.

Amid clear divisions that have emerged, the new head of the Vatican’s dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandez, warned that progressive and traditionalist bishops who think they have a “special gift … to judge the doctrine of the Holy Father” were on the road to schism and heresy.

But another signatory to the letter challenging Francis, which the five cardinals released to ­Catholics across the world, American cardinal Raymond Burke, said on Tuesday that the Pope had no special gift to constitute his own doctrine. Cardinal Burke was addressing The Synodal Babel, an alternative conference to the synod in Rome.

German cardinal Gerhard Mueller, has backed the group, warning against the gathering producing a document resembling a “plea of the United ­Nations”.

“The whole event is a non-binding exchange of opinions,” he said.

“At the end of the day, what happens is that the Pope, in the company of his friends, issues a final document to his own liking. And that is quite dubious.”