The Vatican announced on Saturday, July 15, that Pope Francis had endorsed Beijing’s appointment of the new bishop of Shanghai, the country’s largest Catholic diocese. “The Holy Father has appointed Bishop of Shanghai, mainland China, His Eminence Msgr. Giuseppe Shen Bin, transferring him from the neighboring Diocese of Haimen,” the Vatican said in a statement.
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 China, against a backdrop of tensions concerning the situation of Catholics in the country.
But in late November, the Vatican expressed “surprise” and “regret” after a bishop was appointed to a diocese in China not recognized by the Holy See, saying it violated the agreement. of 2018, renewed for the first time in 2020. Then Beijing decided to appoint Bishop Shen Bin to Shanghai, still without consultation.
The Vatican-China agreement, the content of which has not been made public, aims to bring together Chinese Catholics divided between the official and underground Churches, while giving the pope the last word in appointing bishops.
“Disagreements and Misunderstandings”
In a separate statement released on Saturday, the Vatican’s number two and head of diplomacy, Pietro Parolin, justified the pope’s decision by his desire not to further poison relations with Beijing. “These two transfers were decided without the participation of the Holy See. This way of proceeding does not seem to correspond to the spirit of dialogue and collaboration established between the Vatican and China,” he said.
The pope nevertheless “decided to regularize the canonical anomaly created in Shanghai for the good of the diocese and the better exercise of the pastoral ministry of the bishop. This will allow Bishop Shen Bin to work with the utmost serenity,” he added.
The Vatican, Mr. Parolin insisted, now wants the two sides to work “together to prevent situations of dissension that create disagreements and misunderstandings” and to respect “the fundamental principle of consensus in decisions that concern bishops”.
Since the signing of the agreement between the Vatican and China in 2022, the text has sparked criticism within the Church, some seeing it as a stranglehold by Beijing on the approximately 10 million Catholics in the country, where churches have been destroyed and religious nurseries closed, while the restriction of religious freedoms is still criticized.
21 new cardinals at the end of September
In addition, Pope Francis announced on Sunday, July 9, that he would create 21 new cardinals at the end of September, notably from Latin America, Africa and Asia, to strengthen “the universality of ‘Church “. The cardinals, who wear the red cassock, are the main advisers and administrators of the pope. Those of them who are under 80, which is the case for 18 of the next 21 new cardinals, participate in the vote to appoint the pope.
“Their provenance expresses the universality of the Church, which continues to proclaim God’s merciful love for all the peoples of the earth,” Francis said, after his weekly Angelus prayer, from the window of the Apostolic Palace. in St. Peter’s Square. They will be created at a consistory (an assembly of cardinals) at the end of September, the ninth for the creation of cardinals under Francis, who at 86 is in the tenth year of his papacy and intends to leave a lasting mark on the Vatican. .
His choices are being watched closely as an indication of the future direction of the Catholic Church and its priorities for its 1.3 billion claimed followers. Since becoming pope, Francis has sought to promote clergy from developing countries and countries far from Rome to the highest ranks of the Church, as part of his overall philosophy of diversity and inclusion.
The list of future new cardinals announced by Francis on Sunday thus includes clergy from regions where the Church is expanding, such as Latin America, Africa and Asia. It includes on the African side the archbishops of Juba (South Sudan), Cape Town (South Africa) and Tabora (Tanzania). During the last consistory, held in August 2022, Francis enthroned 20 new cardinals. He personally chose some 90 of the 132 eligible cardinals to elect a new pope, about two-thirds of the total.
