A prominent Chinese Jesuit priest has advised the Vatican not to pursue “ideals that are too high and unrealistic” in the ongoing discussions toward a possible diplomatic rapprochement between the Catholic church and his Communist country.
Fr. Joseph Shih, a 90-year-old priest in Shanghai who grew up there but taught in Rome for 35 years before returning home, warns in an Oct. 5 interview with Italian magazine Civiltà Cattolica that pursuit of such ideals would force Chinese Catholics “to choose between the Church and the Chinese government.”
