Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1084-W721

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1084-W721

Release Date: February 8, 2018

发布日：2018年2月8日

Topic: Strange Tales in the New Year (part 5) -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：新年聊斋（之五） -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

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Strange Tales in the New Year (part 5)

-- Wei Jingsheng

Chinese New Year has not arrived yet, the Gregorian New Year is over. Between these two New Year's Days, a far-reaching event concerning Chinese people's beliefs took place. That is that the Holy See of the Catholic Church is surrendering itself to the Religious Affairs Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and is recognizing Xi Jinping's recent campaign to eliminate religion, especially the campaign to eliminate the Catholic Churches and to demolish the church buildings.

There are more than 20 million Catholics in China, most of whom are devout, adhere to the principle of independence, the separation of church and state, without interference and control by the Communist regime. This part is called the underground church by the outside. Because of the ongoing repression and persecution by the Communist regime, their religious activities have to go underground just as happened they were under Roman rule two thousand years ago.

There are also quite a few other people, several millions, who are in the so-called patriotic churches under the Communist control. They claim that they are independent from the administration of the Holy See, and are free to obey the leadership of the Communist Party and propagate the doctrine of the Communist Party. These are communist underground groups dressed in religious outer garments, commonly known as "wolves in sheep's clothing." They exist mainly to attract believers who are afraid of offending the Communist Party and are not convinced of their religious beliefs, and unconsciously act as accomplices of the Communists to eliminate religious beliefs.

In 1957, the Chinese Communist Party forced a part of the Catholic Church organizations to leave the Holy See. After sixty years in battle, the current Pope finally bowed his head to the Communists and recognized the bishops appointed by the Communist Party. The Holy See asked the bishops who recognized the Holy See to stand down for the ones recognized by the Communist regime. From this time on, the Catholic faith in China would no longer have genuine beliefs and completely change into periphery organizations of the Communist Party.

The behavior of the Pope is a complete betrayal. Not only he betrayed the tens of millions of believers in China, but also betrayed the Catholic faith. This is more serious than the general sexual misconduct and money-seeking scandals, with consequences that may lead to the collapse of the Catholic Church on a global scale as it gradually becomes a pet of dictators and tyrants, and deviates from the fundamental purpose of Christianity as established by Jesus Christ.

The fundamental purpose of Jesus Christ in establishing religion was to liberate oppressed people and to persuade people to be kind, reduce their hatred, spread love, safeguard human harmony, and enhance human happiness. However, the basic purpose of the Communist Party is to use and incite hatred, to provoke human attacks on each other, in order to maintain their oppression and exploitation of the majority, and create suffering of the human kind. The purpose of these two are diametrically opposed; why did the Catholic hierarchy surrender to the devil?

Various Chinese believers, including Catholics and Protestants, have long been persecuted by the Communist Party and even brutally suppressed. The eras of Mao Zedong and the present Xi Jinping have been the most repressive times of repression and persecution. Millions of believers of all faiths suffered physical and mental torture, and a large number of temples and churches have been destroyed. Even the Bible was distorted by translation and rewritings, with added brainwashing materials by the Communist Party.

For decades, devout believers risked all sorts of dangers and stood firm in their faith. Now, the Holy See's serious betrayal and sell-out will constitute a deadly blow to the firm faith of the Chinese Catholic believers and a mortal blow to the church organization. Some will give up the organization and faith that betrayed them; others will move to other denominations; the rest may become skeptical and follow the Communist false believers. In other words, the firm belief groups that survived to this day by standing against the brutal repression will fall apart and disappear.

In the history of the development of Christianity, there have been many times of division. The Catholic Church itself is a product of this history. Although the oppression of outside powers has been an important reason, the mistakes of the internal leaders are the key reasons. The root causes for the organization to collapse or change were that the leaders bowed their heads to money and power, gave up principles and basic tenets, which resulted in the psychological barriers of the believers.

The core foundations of religion and all faith communities are the trust and understanding of believers, and the unity based on the same faith, not political compromise and betrayal. The biggest defeat of a religion is when it makes itself an organization for political bargains.

Original link of the RFA commentary:

http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/weijingsheng-02072018120427.html

To hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's related commentary, please visit:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2018/WeiJS180205onStrangeTales5.mp3

(Written and recorded on February 5, 2018. Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia.)

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1084-W721

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1084-W721

Release Date: February 8, 2018

发布日：2018年2月8日

Topic: Strange Tales in the New Year (part 5) -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：新年聊斋（之五） -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问：

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2018/report2018-02/WeiJS180208onStrangeTales5A1084-W721.htm

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新年聊斋之五

-- 魏京生

中国式的新年还没到，公历的新年已经过去了。在这两个新年之间，发生了一件影响深远的，有关人民信仰的大事。这就是天主教的罗马教廷向中共的宗教局投降了，承认了习近平最近发起的消灭宗教的运动，特别是消灭天主教会，拆毁教堂的运动。

中国有两千多万天主教徒，其中大部分信仰虔诚，坚持自主办教，政教分离，不受行政当局干涉和控制。这部分被外界称为地下教会，因为当局不断进行镇压和迫害，他们的宗教活动不得不转入地下，就像两千年前罗马统治下的境况一样。

另一部分人数也不少，大约有几百万人，是在中共控制下的所谓爱国教会里边，声称脱离罗马教廷的管理，自由决定听从共产党的领导，并且宣传共产党的教义。这也就是说是披着宗教外衣的共产党地下团体，俗称为“披着羊皮的狼”。这主要是吸引那些害怕得罪当局的，信仰不够坚定的信徒，不自觉地充当着共产党消灭宗教信仰的帮凶。

1957年，共产党强迫一部分这样的教会组织脱离了罗马教廷。在争斗了六十年后，现在罗马教皇终于向共产党低下了头，承认了共产党任命的主教；劝退了承认罗马教廷的主教，从此中国的天主教将不再有真正的信仰，彻底变成了共产党的外围组织。

罗马教皇的行为，是彻底的背叛。不但背叛了中国的几千万信徒，也背叛了天主教的信仰。这比一般的不当性行为和贪图钱财更加严重，其后果有可能导致天主教在全球范围内的崩溃，逐渐沦为独裁者和大富翁们的宠物，背离耶稣基督创立基督教的根本宗旨。

耶稣基督创立宗教的根本宗旨，就是解放被压迫的人民，并且劝人向善，消减仇恨，传播大爱，维护人类和谐，增进人类幸福。而共产党的基本宗旨，就是利用并且煽动仇恨，挑动人类互相攻击，以便维持他们对大多数人的压迫和剥削，制造人类的苦难。两者的宗旨截然相反，天主教为什么要向魔鬼投降呢？

中国的各种信仰者，包括天主教和基督新教信徒们，长期遭受共产党的迫害，甚至残酷的镇压。毛泽东时代和现在的习近平时代，正是镇压和迫害最严酷的时代。成千上万各种信仰的信徒，遭受着肉体和精神的折磨，大批的寺庙和教堂被摧毁。甚至圣经也被歪曲的翻译和改写，加进了共产党洗脑的私货。

而虔诚的信徒们几十年来冒着各种危险，坚定地维护着正确的信仰。教廷的严重背叛和出卖，将对他们坚定的信仰构成致命的打击，对教会组织造成致命的打击。有些人会放弃背叛了他们的组织和信仰；有些人会转移到其它的教派；剩下的可能就只有半信半疑，紧跟共产党的假信徒了。也就是说，顶住了残酷镇压存活至今的坚定的信仰团体，将会分崩离析，不复存在了。

基督教发展的历史上，也出现过多次分崩离析，天主教本身就是它的产物。外界强权的压迫虽然是重要的原因，内部领袖们的错误则是关键的原因。领袖们向金钱和强权低头，放弃了原则和基本宗旨，导致信众们心理上的障碍，是导致组织崩溃的根本原因。

宗教和所有信仰团体的核心基础，就是信众们的信任和理解，以及在同一信仰基础上的团结，而不是政治妥协和出卖。把宗教办成了政客讨价还价的组织，是宗教最大的失败。

魏京生在自由亚洲电台评论的原始链接：

http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/weijingsheng-02072018120427.html