Just yesterday in Rome.
Listening to what is audible, I didn’t hear any of these Chinese mainland pilgrims thanking the Bishop of Rome for AL. I heard things like the grandfather telling the little boy to kneel down and the woman crawling on her (rosary-entwined) hands and knees crying “Are you well, Pope! Pope!”, (jin Chinese – roughly “teaching sovereign” or “teaching emperor”); the Fatima lady saying that she has always loved the Pope .
It would have been nice if they’d had an interpreter on such an occasion. Such very deep reverence for the office of the Pope, in spite of everything.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
“Such great reverence for the office of the Pope, in spite of everything.”
“In spite of everything.” That is, in spite of what they have been patiently told by their betters.
No doubt.
[One sentence deleted]
How can they know they are not obliged to reverence the office of the Pope?
(this particular one, at least.)
All pernicious nonsense, in fact.
Moderator: Toad, careful. We have many Chinese readers here, from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and elsewhere. Probably best if you reword this to forestall any misinterpretation.
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Wouldn’t it be terrific if we had a pope that we could feel a sense of “great reverence” for? A pope who didn’t act, with a sense of fake humility, as if he wanted to be everybody’s buddy (as long as they didn’t disagree with him) ?
Once, as a school boy, I was in St. Peter’s with my friends and a massive crowd of other people. Pius XII was carried around in his portable throne, smiling and blessing everyone. No fake humility, REAL humility, somehow combined with a sense of majesty.
Pius XII – maybe it’s because he’s the only pope I’ve every seen in person – but, I still think to myself sometimes: “Pius XII, now THERE was a POPE.”
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Could they possibly be from the ‘Patriotic’ church? But then, maybe not … in view of the lack of interpretation.
A good show of love for the Pope
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marysong, I’m laying a bet that they are indeed frequenters of the “patriotic” Catholic churches. After all, the enlightened communist government took away all the many beautiful churches in China. There were no other church buildings. One thing about missionaries in the past, they did all they could to build impressive Houses of God to attract the people. We have many such here also in South-East Asia.
Which is not to say that these souls are not loyal to the Roman pontiff in most instances, whoever he may be. I recall from the 80s a report on the 2 visits of Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila to China. His father was Chinese, from southern Fujian province, hence his interesting surname. His visits were also very emotionally received among Chinese Catholics. Many wept, saying how deeply moving it was for them to see in person one of the “Pope’s bishops”, whoever the Pope may have been.
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The Commies do seem to fear the power of the Pope. Poor people !
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