A Chinese Catholic bishop
has been ordained with
the joint approval of Pope
Francis and Beijing for
the first time under an agreement
intended to encourage a rapproche-
ment between China and the Holy
See.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni
confirmed Tuesday that Monsignor
Antonio Yao Shun had received
a papal mandate. He had been
legitimately consecrated as bishop of
Jining, Inner Mongolia, at a ceremo-
ny Monday.
China’s roughly 12 million Catho-
lics have for decades been split
between a government-run associ-
ation, whose clergy were chosen by
the atheist Communist Party, and
an underground church loyal to the
Vatican.
But under the terms of the deal
agreed in September last year, both
Beijing and the Vatican will now
have a say in appointing Catholic
bishops.
The law in China requires priests
and bishops to register and align
with the country’s official church.
But the Vatican said the bishop had
also “received the Papal Mandate” at
the ordination, according to a state-
ment by Matteo Bruni of the Holy
See press office.
It said the ordination was the “first
to take place in the framework of the
Provisional Agreement between the
Holy See and the People’s Republic
of China”, which severed diplomatic
relations in 1951.
According to a report in the state-
run Global Times on Wednesday,
China faces a shortage of bishops,
with approximately one-third of the
98 dioceses having no bishops and
many older bishops set to retire.
State media reports said anoth-
er Chinese bishop was set to be
ordained Wednesday, although the
official church did not confirm this.
population grows and the Vatican
intensifies efforts to restore relations,
tensions remain.
The Vatican is the only Europe-
an diplomatic ally of self-ruled
Taiwan, which is viewed by China
as a breakaway province awaiting
reunification.
In June, the Vatican called on
Beijing not to intimidate Catholics
who were still choosing to worship at
underground churches that refuse to
swear allegiance to the official state
church.
Recent years have also seen a
clampdown on religious worship
in China on multiple fronts, with
churches destroyed in some regions
and restrictions on the sale of Bibles.
The agreement met with fierce
criticism from some quarters when it
was announced last year.
Hong Kong’s outspoken Cardinal
Joseph Zen said at the time that the
deal was “a major step toward the
annihilation of the real Church in
China”.
