Catholics in China weigh nature of Pope's authority

XIAN COUNTY, northern China, May 7 (Reuters) Worshippers at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in China's rural northern Hebei province do not need prayer books.

The Catholic faith runs so deep around here, some 180 km (110 miles) south of Beijing, that most of the locals packing the building for the 5 am Sunday Mass knew the service and hymns by heart.

The grand Gothic-style cathedral, built in 2000 after the previous one was demolished towards the end of Mao Zedong's 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, held about 900 for the dawn service -- early enough for the ruddy-faced farmers who filled many pews to get in a full morning in the fields afterwards.

Hebei is the epicentre of Chinese Catholicism, and even deep at its grassroots some worshippers said they were alarmed at Beijing's unilateral ordination of two bishops this month, a moved condemned by Pope Benedict who said the Vatican decide.

''The Pope is a good Pope and he wouldn't say anything against China without a reason,'' said one of the parishioners.

China and the Vatican cut ties after 1949, when the Communist Party seized power on the mainland. In recent years, the two sides have warily explored restoring formal relations, but how much say the Vatican should have in selecting and controlling China's church leaders remains a key dispute.

There are some 10 million Catholics in China, divided between an ''underground'' church loyal to the Holy See and the state-approved church that respects the Pope as a spiritual figurehead but rejects effective papal control. But even in the state-approved church, growing numbers of clergy and parishioners expect their bishops to have the pope's blessing.

The feeling that the Pope, not China's religious authorities, should decide who serves the church is widespread among Chinese Catholics, interviews in Hebei suggested.

''Our clergy and parishioners all feel a deep sense of communion with the Pope which is immoveable,'' a senior member of the official church told reuters. Speaking by phone, he asked that his name not be used, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

''Some of us are deeply pained about the events of the last two weeks. We feel the events are very difficult to understand while China-Vatican ties were improving,'' he said.

In recent years, Beijing and the Holy See have come to an understanding that usually allows prospective priests and bishops to seek Vatican approval before taking up posts.

In Beijing, a spokesman for the State Bureau of Religious Affairs defended the decision to consecrate the two bishops, saying it was made by believers.

But bishops were pressured to take part in installation services opposed by the Vatican, said the Chinese church figure.

''We believe that faith is not political and should not be used for political ends, but that is what has happened in these two weeks.'' He said the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association was seeking to consolidate its influence ahead of any normalisation of ties with the Vatican -- possibly with the approval of higher government officials.

''I feel they are wrecking and blocking any improvement in China-Vatican relations,'' the church figure said of the Assocation.

The Sacred Heart Cathedral is the centre of the Cangzhou Diocese, which covers a nearby city of that name. Its bishop Joseph Li Liangui is accepted by both Rome and Beijing.

But here and across Hebei, Catholics are proud of their disdain for government control.

Yesterday, the Cangzhou Diocese celebrated its 150th anniversary since French Jesuits founded it. Thousands of parishioners turned out for the dedication of a graveyard dedicated to the area's priests, some of them tortured to death during Mao's Cultural Revolution, said parishioners.

The church figure said that in both the clandestine and much of the government-recognised church, believers would ultimately take their cue from the pope.

''His word has supreme authority. From the start, we have never made the slightest concession on matters of faith, but we need to normalise our status.'' REUTERS SY RK1125