Pope Leo XIV Appoints First Chinese Bishop
The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, has appointed a Chinese bishop for the first time, thereby confirming the continuation of the 2018 agreement between the Vatican and the People's Republic of China—one of the most controversial foreign policy moves of his predecessor, Pope Francis.
Pope Leo XIV appointed a Chinese bishop for the first time in accordance with the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with Beijing, signaling the continuation of one of Pope Francis’s most controversial foreign policy decisions, reports AP.
According to the Vatican, on June 5 the Chinese authorities officially recognized the appointment of Joseph Lin Yuntuan as auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Fuzhou, which was described as "a fruit of dialogue between the Holy See and the Chinese authorities, and a significant step on the shared path of this diocese."
The 2018 agreement, the details of which have never been published, allows the state-run Catholic Church in China a certain degree of influence over the appointment of church leaders, while the pope retained the right to veto the final selection. At the time, Pope Francis faced sharp criticism from conservative circles within the Catholic Church, particularly for making concessions to Beijing and concerns over the loyalty of the so-called underground church, which remained faithful to the Vatican for years despite persecution.
Estimates suggest that around 12 million Catholics live in China today, divided between the official state church—which does not recognize the pope's authority—and the underground church, whose members have often faced pressure and arrests. The aim of the agreement was to overcome this division, normalize the status of seven bishops not previously recognized by Rome, and begin a process of rebuilding relations between Beijing and the Vatican, which were severed in 1951.
