China Snubs Vatican In Bishop Appointment – Vision Christian Media | CPT PPP Coverage

Chinese authorities have appointed a new bishop to the largest Roman Catholic diocese in China in violation of an agreement with the Vatican.

The Communist Party-controlled Council of Chinese Bishops appointed Bishop Shen Bin from Haimen in Jiangsu province as the new bishop of Shanghai.

Bishop Shen Bin just happens to also be the head of the Council.

The Shanghai diocese said on its website that around 200 people attended the installation ceremony for Bishop Shen.

The Fides news agency reported that in his speech the 53-year-old bishop referred to the urgency to continue with the “Sinicisation of Catholicism in China.”

The Vatican had argued that Shanghai’s auxiliary bishop Ma Daqin should be leading the diocese.

He has been under house arrest since the afternoon of his installation in 2012 when he publicly resigned from the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the Communist Party-dominated organisation that has sought to control the Catholic Church in China.

Vatican News reports the Holy See which does not recognise the Council of Bishops only found out about the latest appointment through the media.

The Vatican renewed its controversial and secretive agreement with China last October.

“The Vatican is committed to continuing a respectful and constructive dialogue with the Chinese Party for a productive implementation of the Accord and further development of bilateral relations, with a view to fostering the mission of the Catholic Church and the good of the Chinese people,” the Holy See Press Office said at the time.

The Christian Post reports the first deal was signed in 2018 in the hope of bringing peace between the underground congregation loyal to the Pope in China and the state-backed official church. In the agreement, both sides acknowledged the Pope as the supreme leader of the Catholic Church for the first time since the 1950s.

Critics like Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen who was born in Shanghai argued the agreement was a “betrayal.”

The unilateral appointment of Bishop Shen comes only months after the Vatican accused Beijing of violating the bilateral accord by installing a bishop in a diocese not recognized by the Holy See.

The snubs indicate the Beijing government doesn’t want or need the Pope’s approval for its own Church appointments.

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