Beijing snubs Pope with bishop appointed in Shanghai

The installation was done without consultation, despite the secret pact between the Vatican and China.

Pope Francis defended the deal with Beijing on the flight back from Kazakhstan last September. Picture: AFP

China has delivered a major snub to the Vatican, installing a new bishop in Shanghai, one of the nation’s largest and most powerful Catholic dioceses, without consultation, despite the five-year old secret pact between the Church and China.

In a terse statement on the eve of Easter celebrations, the Vatican announced: “Bishop Shen Bin, until now Bishop of Haimen, was installed in the Diocese of Shanghai, China, this morning. The Holy See had been informed a few days ago of the decision of the Chinese authorities and learned from the media of the installation this morning”.

Mateo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said: “For the moment, I have nothing to say about the Holy See’s assessment of the matter”.

But Fides, the news agency of the church’s missionary agency, reported that in his speech at the installation ceremony on Tuesday, Bishop Shen, 53, referred to the urgency to continue with the “sinicisation of Catholicism in China”.

The Vatican has argued that Shanghai’s auxiliary bishop, Ma Daqin, should be leading the diocese. But 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 dominate the Catholic Church in China for decades.

The agreement signed between the Holy See and the Chinese government in September 2018 and renewed in 2020 and 2022 was supposed to create “the conditions for broader bilateral co-operation”, especially in relation to the appointment of bishops. In theory it was also supposed to create a bridge between the traditional underground church, loyal to the Vatican and the Patriotic Association. Critics, however, such as Cardinal Joseph Zen, 91, of Hong Kong, who was born in Shanghai, argued it was a betrayal.

Pope Francis defended the agreement on his return flight to Rome from Kazakhstan last September, insisting the Vatican has “chosen the way of dialogue”. But he admitted the process was slow “because the Chinese rhythm is slow.’’

Bishop Shen was appointed to Shanghai by the Council of Chinese Bishops, a body he heads which is not recognised by the church but which is in close touch with communist party authorities in charge of religious policy in China.

Trench warfare has also erupted in the Vatican over two other issues. One is the push in German and Belgian dioceses to offer church blessings to gay couples. In a new book, The Pope, Ministry and Mission, German Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, warns that Germany’s Synod process, was aiming to become a “locomotive’’ to change church teaching through the Vatican “Synod on Synodality’’ be held in Rome in October with a follow-up meeting next year.

The other issue causing consternation is a new draft rite of the Mass, known as the Mayan Mass, designed to be used in Mexico and discussed in Rome in May. The rite takes in indigenous symbols and gives lay men and women a greater role as non-ordained “principals’’ or elders, presiding over the celebration.