Pope Francis ratifies appointment of a bishop in China without his consent

He Vatican announced on Saturday that the Pope Francisco He ratified the appointment by Beijing of the new bishop of Shanghai, the largest Catholic diocese in the country, although he regretted this unilateral decision contrary to a historic agreement, which provides for a common process.

“The Holy Father appointed Bishop of Shanghai, in mainland China, HE Monsignor Giuseppe Shen Bin, from the neighboring diocese of Haimen”declared the Vatican it’s a statement.

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In October 2022, the Vatican and the communist regime in Beijing renewed for two years their historic agreement signed in 2018 on the thorny issue of the appointment of bishops in Chinain the midst of the tensions related to the situation of Catholics in the country.

But at the end of November, the Vatican He communicated his “surprise” and his “regret” after the appointment of a bishop in a Chinese diocese not recognized by the Holy See, considering that it violated the 2018 agreement, renewed for the first time in 2020.

Then China decided to appoint Monsignor Shen Bin in Shanghaialways without agreement.

the deal Vatican-Chinathe content of which was not made public, is intended to bring together Chinese Catholics divided between the official and underground Churches, while giving the last word to the pope in appointing bishops.

In a separate statement released on Saturday, the head of diplomacy of the VaticanPietro Parolin, justified the Pope’s decision based on his desire not to worsen relations with Beijing.

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“These two appointments were decided without the participation of the Holy See. This way of proceeding does not correspond to the spirit of dialogue and collaboration established between the Vatican and China”he declared.

However, the father “decided to regularize the canonical anomaly created in Shanghai for the good of the diocese, and the best exercise of the bishop’s pastoral ministry. This will allow Monsignor Shen Bin to work more calmly”indicated.

He VaticanParolin stressed, now wants the two parties to work to “to prevent together the situations of dissension that create disagreements and misunderstandings” and strive to respect “the fundamental principle of consensus in decisions that affect bishops”.

Since the signing of the agreement between the Vatican and China in 2022, the text arouses criticism within the Church, some see in it control by the Chinese government over the nearly 10 million Catholics in the country, where churches were destroyed, religious nurseries were closed and religious freedoms were restricted is still a topical issue.

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Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.