China should welcome Catholic Church, and other faith traditions, for the moral good of society
G. Bin Zhao calls on Beijing to accept the pope's offer of friendship and open China's doors to the Catholic Church, as well as revive its own faith traditions, to stem society's moral degeneration
Last week, as Pope Francis passed through Chinese airspace after his visit to the Philippines, he sent a telegram to Chinese President Xi Jinping , it was reported, to again express his willingness to visit China. This is an important indication that the Vatican is trying to improve relations with China. Perhaps more significantly, the news was widely reported by mainland media and not blocked, unlike a lot of other sensitive information.
Although China has made great progress, gradually reducing poverty and increasing prosperity as the economy grew to be ranked one of the largest in the world, in terms of gross domestic product, there is general agreement that the moral quality of the population is falling as fast as living standards are rising.
Examples abound: when an elderly person fell in a public place, no one dared help for fear of being blamed or blackmailed; car thieves strangled an infant they discovered in the vehicle they stole; food producers sold poisonous goods to obtain higher profits. Such tragic events, among many others, provide anecdotal evidence of the country's falling moral standards.
In recent years, as this descent has become more obvious and alarming, the issue has been a cause for much reflection and discussion in society. The main problems can be summarised as follows.
Serious long-term corruption has distorted the concepts of equity and justice in society, and eroded the integrity of business and personal relationships. The growing wealth disparity has led to social discrimination and class contradictions.
Feelings of "hatred against the rich" and "hatred against government officials" are common among ordinary people, feelings that have grown to the point where apathy and low levels of morality are the result.
Furthermore, moral education, unable to adapt to the rapid pace of social change in China, is lagging. For more than 2,000 years, including in more contemporary times, ideology and morality in China have mainly been influenced and dominated by the thoughts and teachings of Confucius, the Buddha and Lao Tzu.
