US embassy cable - 03VATICAN5611

C O N F I D E N T I A L  VATICAN 005611 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/WE LEVIN; DRL/IRF FOR INBODEN; EAP/CM 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2013 
TAGS: CH, KIRF, PHUM, PINR, PREL, VT, religious freedom 
SUBJECT: HOLY SEE PESSIMISTIC ON WAY FORWARD IN CHINA 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 325020 
     B. VAT 03820 
     C. SECSTATE 222664 (NOTAL) 
     D. VAT 4649 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Jim Nicholson for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) In a December 3 meeting, Vatican Office Director for 
China Gianfranco Rota-Graziosi was pessimistic on prospects 
for progress on human rights and religious freedom in China. 
He noted continuing persecution of both the underground 
Catholic Church and the government-controlled Catholic 
Patriotic Association (CPA), and said the Vatican finds it 
hard to keep up to date with the frequent arrests of 
Catholics.  The Holy See has no plans for a change in 
strategy toward China, and Rota-Graziosi mentioned in this 
regard the Vatican's low-key approach to the Dalai Lama and 
its differences with the activist, U.S.-based Cardinal Kung 
Foundation.  Despite his predictions of limited progress, 
Rota-Graziosi called for continuing U.S. and international 
pressure on China to abide by international human rights 
agreements and norms on religious freedom.  End Summary. 
 
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Persecution of State-Sponsored Church... 
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2. (C) In a December 3 meeting with Poloff, Vatican Office 
Director for China Gianfranco Rota-Graziosi saw little cause 
of optimism regarding human rights and religious freedom in 
China.  He noted continuing persecution of both the 
underground Catholic Church and the state-supervised Catholic 
Patriotic Association (CPA).  In fact, Rota-Graziosi said, he 
felt in many ways conditions were deteriorating, even for the 
CPA community.  In addition to manipulation of CPA bishops, 
elections and state control over seminaries, each CPA bishop 
essentially lived under house arrest, according to 
Rota-Graziosi, with a government &aide8 always at his side, 
attending all of his meetings and reporting to the 
government.  On the positive side, Rota-Graziosi did note 
more opportunities for CPA seminarians to study abroad. 
 
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...and Underground Catholics 
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3. (C) Rota-Graziosi's reaction to media reports of recent 
arrests of underground Church members was muted.  He said 
that such arrests were so commonplace that it was difficult 
to keep track of them.  According to Rota-Graziosi, all 
underground bishops were currently being detained in some 
way.  Some were in prison, some kept in police houses, and 
still others had had no contact with the Holy See for two to 
four years.  The Holy See had not set out to develop the 
underground Church, he noted.  The goal had always been and 
would always be to have a unified Church out in the open -- a 
"visible sign" for all people.  Given China's political 
situation, however, the Vatican had to live with the 
realities of the split Catholic Church in China for the time 
being. 
 
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Cardinal Kung Foundation 
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4. (C) Rota-Graziosi allowed that the publicizing of 
religious freedom abuses in China by the U.S.-based Cardinal 
Kung Foundation was helpful.  But he noted that the NGO had 
no working relationship with the Vatican.  The Kung 
Foundation focuses its advocacy efforts on the underground 
Church and disagrees with the Vatican's strategy of promoting 
reconciliation between the official and state-run churches. 
According to Rota-Graziosi, the Foundation favors a more 
aggressive approach than the Holy See can take.  Despite 
serious disagreements, he acknowledged the importance of the 
voice the Kung Foundation gave to those suffering in the 
underground Church. 
 
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No Change of Approach on Dalai Lama 
 
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5. (SBU) We turned next to the recent meeting between the 
Pope and the Dalai Lama, which was downplayed in official 
Vatican media and referred to as merely &a religious 
courtesy call8 by the Vatican spokesman.  Rota-Graziosi told 
us that the Vatican &doesn't want to make trouble8  with 
China or complicate China's relationship with the Dalai Lama 
on such occasions, but added that the treatment of the visit 
was consistent with that of previous meetings.  He said the 
Pope always receives the Dalai Lama as a religious leader, 
rather than a politician-in-exile. 
 
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Continued Pressure Needed 
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6. (C) Rota-Graziosi was unaware of the most recent 
developments in the EU-China dialogue on human rights (ref 
a), but called for continuing pressure by the international 
community -- and especially the U.S. -- on China to live up 
to international commitments and norms for human rights and 
religious freedom.  He cautioned the U.S. against intervening 
on specific religious freedom cases, lest such efforts 
produce a government backlash; however, he said he did not 
think China was feeling too much international pressure in 
general at the moment. 
 
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Comment: Pessimism Rules the Day 
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7. (C) Rota-Graziosi's outlook was more pessimistic than 
views we have heard recently from other Holy See officials 
(ref b).  He sees few options for Vatican action in China. 
"Anything we do in China is 50 percent advantage, 50 percent 
disadvantage," he said.  If the Holy See pushes harder for 
religious freedom, there is likely to be a backlash; if it 
stays mute, then more Catholics will be persecuted under a 
veil of silence.  Fretting about a communist mentality that 
had taken generations to develop, he said it would take 
"generations, or even centuries" to change it.  Further, he 
said, the Holy See is simply not a presence in the lives of 
Chinese Catholics -- or Asians in general -- as it is in the 
West, thus limiting the Vatican's potential impact.  He did 
not expect concrete improvement stemming from the informal 
trip last summer of Washington Cardinal McCarrick to China 
(ref c).  Rota-Graziosi's outlook, perhaps jaded by the 
dashed expectations of the past couple of years when repeated 
hints of openings have brought no significant change from the 
PRC, will likely have an influence on the thinking of new 
Vatican Foreign Minister Lajolo, who comes to his post 
without substantial Asian experience (ref d), but who regards 
the relationship with China as one of his top four priorities. 
 
Nicholson 
 
 
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 2003VATICA05611 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL