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Vatican renews secret agreement with China

October 22, 2024

The Vatican has announced that a secret agreement with China, governing the appointment of new bishops, will be extended for four years.

The October 24 announcement that the Vatican would renew the accord had been anticipated. In September, Pope Francis had said that the agreement was “a promise and a hope,” and insisted that despite conflicts over the interpretation of the secret accord, “the result is good.”

The Vatican announcement said that the agreement with Beijing, originally struck in September 2018, “opened a historic chapter in relations between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China. The “provisional” agreement was for a 2-year period, but was renewed in 2020 and again in 2022. This latest renewal extends the term for four years.

Although the terms of the agreement have never been disclosed, it is generally understood that under the terms of the accord allows the Roman Pontiff to appoint new bishops from a list of candidates approved by Beijing. Although the agreement was undertaken by the Vatican with the objective on ensuring that all Chinese dioceses would have active bishops appointed by Rome, in practice only nine new bishops have been installed in the six years that the agreement has been in effect, while more than 40 Chinese dioceses currently do not have a bishop.

 


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  • Posted by: Randal Mandock - Oct. 24, 2024 1:01 PM ET USA

    Francis said: "the result is good." If the destruction of the "underground Church", the accelerated persecution of orthodox prelates and individual Catholics, the bulldozing of massive numbers of Church buildings, the prohibition of catechesis for children and youth, the prohibition of entry for children and youth into parish spaces, the replacement of Catholic symbols with images of Chinese Communist leaders, and 40 vacant Chinese dioceses are a "good result", I would like to see a bad result.

  • Posted by: rfr46 - Oct. 24, 2024 3:01 AM ET USA

    There is a collaborator with evil in the Vatican. Why four year renewal now, when prior renewals were for two years? Possible dead hand control by the aging PF? Doesn't sound very holy to me.

  • Posted by: mhains8491 - Oct. 24, 2024 12:23 AM ET USA

    Faithful Catholics in China have been betrayed by Pope Francis. There is no justification for keeping the agreement secret, unless you are hiding someth8ing. Remember it was the sexual predator Theodore McCarrick who was the main Vatican negotiator. Like sexual predators in the Church, Pope Francis says one thing and does another.

  • Posted by: andhiggins1954 - Oct. 22, 2024 8:43 PM ET USA

    Pray for the Church in China