The Vatican and China have renewed a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops for another two years, the Holy See announced Thursday. The statement said two bishops, Bishop Antonio Yao Shun of Jining, an autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, and Bishop Stefano Xu Hongwei of Hanzhong in central Shaanxi Province, were appointed in accordance with the agreement. Other ordinations were underway, the note says, although the pandemic has slowed things down. The announcement renewed for another two years a landmark 2018 agreement that ended a decades-old power struggle over the right to appoint bishops in China, despite concerns about religious freedom and human rights in the country. “It seems that to save the agreement, the Holy See turns a blind eye to all the injustices that the Communist Party inflicts on the Chinese people,” Zen wrote on Oct. 7. He reminded his audience that after decades of negotiations, the agreement was not just “an end point”; it is above all “a starting point” for the Church in China and Sino-Vatican relations. The agreement, which was never published, provides for a process of dialogue in the selection of bishops, although Pope Francis has said he has the final say. The Vatican signed it in 2018 in the hope that it would help unite Chinese Catholics, who for seven decades have been divided between those of an official state-sanctioned church and a clandestine church faithful to Rome. In addition, the details of the deal have been largely kept confidential, to the horror of some critics of Pope Francis.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told reporters on Oct. 21 that he was “satisfied” with the deal. But he acknowledged that “there are also many other problems that the agreement should not solve.” The rejection of a deal with Pope Francis may not be as important as the abrogation of the “one country, two systems” agreement, which was supposed to guarantee Hong Kong`s autonomy after the UK city`s handover to China, but it does show the danger of international partnerships with Beijing. He explained that the teaching of the Second Vatican Council “on the particular role of the Pope within the College of Bishops and in the appointment of the bishops themselves inspired the negotiations” and “was a point of reference in the elaboration of the text of the agreement.” Although the agreement does not address their fate, in the extension phase, the Vatican would mainly and urgently seek a dignified solution to their situation with Beijing, which would not oblige them to join the Patriotic Association. Before signing the 2018 agreement, Pope Francis showed magnanimity by regularizing the situation of seven illegally ordained bishops (plus one who had died) at Beijing`s urging. In November, shortly after exchanging diplomatic notes with Rome to extend the deal for another two years, China completely denied it in a dry publication of the state bureaucracy. Decree No. 15 on New Administrative Rules for Religious Affairs contains an article on the establishment of a procedure for the selection of Catholic bishops in China after May 1.
The document does not provide for a papal role in this process, not even a papal right to approve or veto episcopal appointments in China, which should be the only substantial concession to the Vatican in the agreement. It is as if the agreement never saw the light of day. On October 22, the Holy See and China announced that they had agreed to extend the provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops by two years. At the end of this agreement “for experiments” – the term used by the Vatican – the agreement becomes final or a different decision must be made. Until then, however, the Vatican will want to see concrete results. Today, there are about 100 Catholic bishops in mainland China; many are very old, but all are now united because of the agreement with the Pope. About 30 of them belong to the underground church and refuse to join the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, so they are not recognized by the Beijing authorities. The situation of these bishops has become more difficult since the agreement, as the Chinese authorities have used it, contrary to Rome`s expectations, to pressure bishops and clandestine priests to submit to the religious policy of the state.
The “main objective” of the agreement on the appointment of bishops in China “is to support and promote the proclamation of the Gospel in this country and to restore the full and visible unity of the Church.” Pastor Bernardo Cervellera, editor-in-chief of the AsiaNews missionary news agency, which closely covers the Church in China, noted that in the two years since the agreement was signed, the Chinese authorities` persecution of Christians has only increased, with churches destroyed, priests imprisoned and young people excluded from worship. Since 1951, there has been no official relations between China and the Holy See. However, in September 2018, China and the Holy See signed an agreement that allows the pope to appoint and veto bishops approved by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The agreement was then extended for another two years in October 2020. [1] With the approval of Pope Francis, Vatican diplomats reached a bilateral agreement and took advantage of the Holy See`s status as a sovereign state. The Vatican has agreed that the agreement “exclusively” concerns episcopal appointments. He would refrain from pushing Beijing to the status of a “non-CPCC underground Catholic Church,” banning religion for young people, the destruction of many Marian churches and shrines by the state, its efforts to reinterpret the Bible, and a host of other human rights crises. It was able to live with communist administrative control of its churches, as it did during the Cold War in the Eastern bloc countries. And as a precondition for the agreement, Pope Francis was ready to lift the previous excommunication of seven government-appointed bishops.
The agreement was provisionally signed in September 2018 for two years. As recently as October 2020, the Vatican expressed satisfaction with its progress, optimistically describing it as “above all a view for broader and more far-sighted agreements.” Speech in Milan on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Italian P.I.M.E. . . .