Despite the agreement reached between the Vatican and the Chinese Communist government in October 2018, Beijing has just proceeded to appoint a new bishop for the diocese of Shanghai, without consulting the Holy See.
The installation of the new bishop, Bishop Shen Bin, took place on Tuesday, April 4th. The Vatican learned the information through the press, after having been informed a few days before that Bishop Shen Bin had moved from Jiangsu province to Shanghai.
The bishopric of Shanghai had been vacant for 10 years. The Vatican-recognised bishop, Bishop Ma Daqin, had been placed under house arrest at Sheshan Seminary for daring to resign from the Patriotic Association—the government-controlled ‘Catholic’ religious association—immediately after his ordination as bishop. Although he then formally joined the Chinese Communist Party’s umbrella organisation, the government never recognised him as bishop of the diocese.
Rome claims that Bishop Shen’s appointment was made unilaterally, thus in violation of the agreement that was supposed to normalise and improve relations between the papacy and the Chinese Communist regime—a secret pact, vigorously contested, yet already renewed twice since 2018.
This is not the first time Beijing has violated the agreement. Four months ago, Rome already contested the appointment of Bishop John Peng Weizhao as auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Jiangxi, a diocese not recognised by the Holy See. At his installation ceremony, Bishop Beng explained that he wanted to “positively lead the Catholic Church to conform to socialist society.”
These actions are proof that the Communist government, despite its protestations of good faith, feels absolutely no obligation to this pact, which was supposed to have restored good relations between the Pope and the Chinese state—broken off since 1949, and which led to the development of two parallel Catholic Churches, one clandestine (supported by Rome), the other official, subservient to Beijing. In essence, the agreement was that Rome would accept that the process of selecting future bishops would be done in collaboration with the Patriotic Association. In exchange, Beijing had to accept that the Pope would have the final say on these appointments.
The appointment of Bishop Shen Bin shows that the process has not been respected. Nor has the agreement put an end to the persecution of Catholics, as the recent prosecution of Cardinal Zen, the former bishop of Hong Kong, has shown.
