Separation of the State and the Church by Ronan S. Estoque, MA (May, 2006)

A couple of weeks ago, the Chinese Government appointed two Catholic Bishops without consulting the Vatican. It was such a big deal in the media because instead of the Church meddling in the affairs of the State, this was a reversal of intrusion. The Roman Catholic Church reciprocated by excommunicating the newly appointed bishop by the state. From the harshness of the excommunication, one could easily say that the composition of the hierarchy of Roman Catholic Church in China is still within the purview of the Vatican.

Everybody thought that such would be the end of a drama that is a lose-lose situation for both parties. Unfortunately, the Chinese Government again appointed another Catholic Bishop in China and this time around - the incident that began with the aura of comedy is no longer a laughing matter. If the response of the Vatican leads to another excommunication, there would be an open declaration of hostility between People's Republic of China and the Catholic Church. Taken to an extreme, such could possibly lead to another persecution of Catholics in China and such would lead again to another worldwide condemnation of the present Chinese Government.

Prior to these appointments and excommunication episodes, there was an uneasy truce between the Chinese Government and the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, with these current strings of events - another escalation of government persecution targeting religious orientation might spell another difficulty that would definitely spell more instability for the fragile semblance of peace and cooperation.

With the nuclear issue of Iran, the instability of Iraq, the Palestinian dilemma in Israel, continent-wide hunger in Africa and political uncertainty in the Philippines, the brewing of another Chinese Catholic Backlash is certain to raise another scenario that leads towards disintegration instead of integration. If it weren't for globalization, one could have easily exclaimed, "Who cares?" Unfortunately, the mystery and inevitability of globalization is upon us and just like any self-respecting intellectual - we really should care and take notice or face the consequence of global domination with the markings of yuans.