Report: Vatican Not Mentioned in China’s New Rules on Bishop Appointments

Catholic News Agency ^ | 2/15/21

[marshmallow]

Washington D.C., Feb 15, 2021 / 05:00 pm MT (CNA).- According to new rules which will reportedly take effect on May 1, China’s state-run Catholic Church and bishops’ conference will select, approve, and ordain episcopal candidates—with no mention of the Vatican’s involvement in the process.

China’s new “Administrative Measures for Religious Clergy” will go into effect on May 1. The rules were translated by the magazine Bitter Winter, which reports on religious freedom conditions in China.

Under the new rules, the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) will be responsible for selecting episcopal candidates. The candidates will then be “approved and consecrated by the Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Conference.”

The rules do not mention any role of the Vatican in approving bishops, despite the 2018 Vatican-China agreement reportedly involving both Chinese authorities and the Holy See in the process of appointing bishops.

In 2018, the Vatican reached an agreement with the Chinese government on the appointment of bishops; the terms of the agreement, which was renewed in Oct., 2020, for two more years, have never been fully revealed.

According to reports, however, the agreement allows for China’s state-sanctioned church (CCPA) to select episcopal candidates, who would then be approved or vetoed by the Holy See. At the time the Vatican-China agreement was renewed in October, a Vatican newspaper reported that two Chinese bishops were appointed under the “regulatory framework established by the agreement.” The Vatican confirmed in November that a third bishop had been appointed under the regulatory framework of the agreement.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, the former bishop of Hong Kong and a vocal critic of the agreement, said it could put the Vatican in the position of having to veto repeatedly episcopal candidates advanced by China.