Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic bishop yesterday said he had invited a leader of the Chinese Communist Party-controlled group for Catholics in mainland China to visit the territory, in a high-profile gesture aimed at improving strained Vatican relations with Beijing.
Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow (周守仁) said Joseph Li (李山), who is archbishop of Beijing in China’s state-recognized church hierarchy, appeared to be “quite positive” about the invitation, public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reported.
The broadcaster gave no indication when Li might visit.
Photo: REUTERS
Chow announced the invitation on the last day of a five-day trip to Beijing, the first by a bishop of Hong Kong in nearly three decades.
Last month, the bishop said that his visit underscores the mission of the Hong Kong Diocese to be a bridge church and promote exchanges between the two sides.
However, the trip came as the Vatican and Beijing are split over the power to appoint bishops.
China and the Vatican severed diplomatic ties in 1951, following the communists’ rise to power and the expulsion of foreign priests.
Since the break in ties, Catholics in China have been divided between those who belong to an official, state-sanctioned church and an underground church loyal to the pontiff.
The Vatican recognizes members of both as Catholics, but claims the exclusive right to choose bishops.
In 2018, the two sides announced that they had reached a private accord, which regularized the status of several Chinese-appointed bishops and paved the way for future nominations.
An agreement on Catholic bishops has been renewed twice, most recently in October last year for two more years.
However, in November, a feud broke out over the installation of an auxiliary bishop in Jiangxi Province, which the Vatican does not recognize as a diocese
Earlier this month, Vatican News, the news portal of the Holy See, reported that China had unilaterally appointed a new bishop to Shanghai.
The agreement has been harshly criticized by many, including by Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), who was in May last year detained on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed National Security Law that jailed or silenced many rights advocates.
He was released on bail and has yet to be formally charged, but he and five others were fined in a separate case for failing to register a now-defunct fund set up to help arrested protesters.
When Chow led a prayer yesterday, he said people should “love the country and love the church,” RTHK reported.
He later told reporters that everyone should learn how to do these two things at the same time.
“If you live in Hong Kong and China, then they should love their country,” he said.
Estimates of the total number of Chinese Catholics run between 6 million and 12 million, worshiping in both the recognized Patriotic Catholic Association and the underground church.
Chow was slated to conclude his trip yesterday. He visited churches and the tomb of Matteo Ricci, one of the first Jesuits to live in China, who died in Beijing in 1610.
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