The Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee of the Protestant Churches of China and the China Christian Council Wednesday denounced the Vatican's planned canonization of 120 "saints," saying the move "distorts history."
In a statement issued Wednesday, the two religious organizations say that the Chinese people, including all patriotic Christians, could never accept the move because the canonization of Chinese or foreign missionaries who had committed severe crimes against the Chinese people is an open challenge to the sovereignty of Chinese churches and to the feelings of the Chinese people.
The statement says that the Vatican should repent of the past crimes against the Chinese people committed by the missionaries, instead of allowing certain people in the Holy See to further tamper with history and fool the world under the guise of the term canonization.
(Xinhua 09/27/2000)
