China describes two Catholic saints as criminals

China describes two Catholic saints as criminals
REUTERS

BEIJING, OCT 2: China has provided details about two of the more than 100 Catholics made saints by the Pope, saying the men were actually China-hating criminals whose canonisations were perverse and vicious acts.

The Chinese Government has exploded in anger with the Vatican for canonising 87 Chinese and 33 missionaries on Sunday, saying the act glorified a century of Western imperialism in China.

The canonisations, which fell on the 51st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, also severely hampered chances for normalising relations between Beijing and the Holy Seer, which do not have diplomatic ties, it said.

Pope John Paul said making saints of the martyrs, who the Vatican says died for their faith between 1648 and 1930, should be seen as honouring Chinese, not defending colonialism.

But a spokesman for China's State Administration of Religious Affairs cited examples of ``monstrous crimes'' committed by the saints against the Chinese people, including one who he said slept with all the brides of his followers.

Aldericus Crescitelli, an Italian missionary, ``was notorious for taking the `right to the first night' of each bride under his diocese'', Xinhua news agency quoted the spokesman as saying in a report late on Sunday.

A second missionary, Auguste Chatdelaine of France, instigated the second Opium War and the burning of the imperial Summer Palace in 1860 after he was punished for felonies, the spokesman said.

``Did they represent God's `true love' to the Chinese people like the Vatican said?'' asked the spokesman, who Xinhua did not identify.

Chinese Catholics are allowed to practice their faith only under a Communist Party-controlled church, which China says has four million members. The Vatican says there are eight million Chinese Catholics loyal to the Pope who worship in secret.

The top bishop of China's state-backed church called the canonisations intolerable and urged the Vatican to repent its past crimes against the Chinese people.

``Choosing this date to canonise the so-called `saints' is an open insult and humiliation against the Chinese Catholic adherents,'' Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan, chairman of the China Catholic Patriotic Association, said on Sunday.

Fu was among 120 Catholic bishops, priests, monks and nuns who attended a flag-raising ceremony in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to celebrate National Day.

He later conducted a mass to give thanks for 51 years ofCommunist rule.