VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A bishop appointed by Pope Francis was put in in a diocese in China on Thursday, the Vatican mentioned, in an obvious thaw in relations following friction when government-backed bishops have been named with out papal permission.
The Vatican mentioned Rev. Taddeo Wang Yuessheng, 58, was ordained as bishop for the diocese of Zhengzhou, within the central province of Henan.
A press release mentioned he was appointed by the pope “within the framework” of a landmark 2018 settlement between Beijing and the Vatican on the naming of bishops.
The tenuous accord, whose contents are nonetheless secret, offers the pope the ultimate say over the appointment of bishops after native consultations.
But twice up to now two years, the Vatican has accused China of violating the settlement by making unilateral choices on the appointment or switch of bishops in China with out session stipulated within the 2018 settlement.
The 2018 pact was a bid to ease a longstanding divide throughout mainland China between an underground flock loyal to the pope and a state-backed official church. For the primary time because the Nineteen Fifties, either side acknowledged the pope because the supreme chief of the Catholic Church. It has been renewed twice since 2018.
Beijing has been following a coverage of “Sinicisation” of faith, making an attempt to root out overseas influences and implement obedience to the Communist Party. There are an estimated 10 to 12 million Catholics in China.
Last November, the state-backed bishop of Beijing, who took workplace earlier than the 2018 accord, visited Hong Kong amid fears amongst some Catholics that Beijing wished to tighten management over non secular affairs in Hong Kong, which has about 600,000 Catholics.
It was the primary journey by a mainland Chinese bishop because the former British colony was returned to China in 1997 and adopted a landmark go to to the Chinese capital by his Hong Kong counterpart in April.
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