Is Vatican ‘satisfied’ with China’s contempt for diplomatic accord?

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Dec 09, 2025

Following the installation of a new Catholic bishop in China last week, the Vatican announced that the appointment had been made “in accordance with the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.”

Not quite. The details of the Vatican-Beijing accord remain secret, but the common understanding is that the Pope chooses bishops from among candidates nominated by Beijing. But Bishop Francis Li Jianlin, who was ordained last week to head the Xianxiang prefecture, was named by the Chinese regime in April, when there was no Pope to approve the selection. (Pope Francis had recently died; Pope Leo was not yet elected.) Pope Leo eventually approved the ordination, but he had been presented with a fait accompli.

But wait. The Xianxiang prefecture already had a Vatican-approved shepherd, Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu, who, as a leader of the “underground” Church, was not recognized by Beijing, and in fact had been repeatedly harassed, arrested, and held incommunicado for various periods of time since his episcopal ordination in 1991. That complication was removed when Bishop Zhang Weizhu resigned—although at the age of 67 he is still well short of normal retirement age.

Now the Vatican is claiming another another Great Leap Forward in relations with China—because the government is recognizing, in retrospect, that Bishop Zhang Weizhu was the bishop of Xianxiang. Today’s statement from the Vatican press office—curiously worded in the passive voice—announces:

Satisfaction has been expressed with the news that today the episcopal dignity of Bishop Emeritus Joseph Zhang Weizhu of the Apostolic Prefecture of Xinxiang (Henan, mainland China) has received civil recognition.

The satisfaction that was expressed (by whom, we do not know) is due to the fact that Chinese officials referred to Bishop Zhang as a “bishop emeritus,” thereby recognizing the episcopal dignity that they had denied him for 34 years. Perhaps now government officials will alter their habit of arresting him at irregular intervals. That would be a small step—admittedly not a great stride—in the right direction.

But again, wait. From China comes the report—conveyed not by some extremist group but by the reliable AsiaNews service, run by the Pontifical Mission Society—that “Bishop Zhang Weizhu is still under strict surveillance, deprived of freedom; his family cannot even see him or receive a sign of his safety...”

Bishop Zhang was not present at his successor’s ordination, nor was his name mentioned during the ceremony, when other Chinese prelates were given public acknowledgment. According to AsiaNews sources—priests active in the “underground” Church—the bishop was prevented from attending.

Yet according to the government-backed Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the former bishop gave a speech (where? To what audience?) “expressing the need to adhere to patriotism and love for religion, to adhere to the principle of independent and self-governing churches, to follow the trend of the sinicisation of Catholicism in our country, and to contribute to the overall construction of a modern socialist country and the overall promotion of the great rebirth of the Chinese nation.” The AsiaNews informants scoff: “It is highly unlikely that Bishop Zhang is the author of these words.”

The Vatican continues to assure us that the agreement with Beijing—which for some reason must be kept secret—is working well. The available evidence overwhelmingly suggests otherwise.