POPE LEO XIV has asked for prayers for China’s Catholics to be in communion with the Vatican, as he made his first public remarks about one of the thorniest foreign policy issues facing his new pontificate.

It comes after China openly defied an agreement with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops.

Only the pope can ratify a bishop appointment and China “elected” two bishops in the days following Pope Francis’s death when the papal office was empty.

In remarks today, the new Pope recalled that on Saturday, the Catholic Church marked a special feast day to pray for the church in China.

Pope Benedict XVI had initiated the feast day as part of his efforts to unify China’s 12 million Catholics who were divided between an official, state-controlled Church that did not recognise papal authority, and an underground Church that remained loyal to the Vatican through decades of persecution.

Leo noted that on the feast day, “in the churches and shrines in China and throughout the world, prayers have been raised to God as a sign of the solicitude and affection for Chinese Catholics and their communion with the universal church”.

Speaking from his studio window during his noon blessing, Leo prayed that Catholics in China and elsewhere “obtain the grace to be strong and joyful witnesses of the Gospel, even in the midst of trials, to always promote peace and harmony”.

Defiance of Vatican-China agreement

In 2018, Pope Francis helped broker an agreement between the Vatican and China to find a middle-ground between the underground Catholic Church faithful to the Vatican and the state-controlled Church.

In China, the five main religions have government-controlled bodies that manage their affairs – for Catholicism, it’s the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA). 

The CCPA in the past appointed bishops in China without Vatican approval.

But the colloquially known underground Catholics do not affiliate with the CCPA and instead looks to the Vatican and its own secretly ordained bishops.

Chinese authorities have in the past harassed this underground Church and has reportedly detained some of its clergy and closed its churches.

While the agreement has not been made public, it includes a framework whereby Chinese authorities put forth names of new bishops that the pope then either approves or disapproves.

However, this agreement was violated when China “elected” two bishops despite the Catholic Church being in the “sede vacante” period following the death of Francis.

When a pope dies or resigns, the Catholic Church enters a period known as sede vacante - Latin for “the seat being vacant”.

During this period, the Vatican is unable to ratify any bishop appointments as only the pope has the ability to do this.

One of these bishop appointments was particularly striking because the diocese is already led by a Vatican-appointed bishop.

The Vatican-approved bishop in this diocese is Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu, who was secretly appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1991.

He spent decades ministering without Chinese-state approval and has been arrested multiple times.

It’s reported that Zhang was most recently arrested in 2021 while recovering from cancer surgery and remains in custody without trial.

China-Vatican relations

The relationship between China and the Vatican has been rocky going back over decades.

In 1951, China severed ties with the Vatican and expelled its papal nuncio on “espionage” charges.

The Vatican is also one of only 12 governments – and the only one in Europe – to recognise the State of Taiwan.

China claims Taiwan is a province and has vowed to annex it.

It’s reported that a full reconciliation with the Vatican would involve the Holy See breaking diplomatic ties with Taiwan and allowing China free reign on appointing bishops, something the Vatican will not agree to.  

Taiwan’s president, who met Francis six times, did not attend Francis’s funeral or Leo’s inauguration and instead sent a former vice-president.

This meant Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te missed a rare opportunity to mix with other global leaders.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong previously described the 2018 agreement as an “incredible betrayal” and accused the Vatican of “selling out and abandoning the faithful of the underground church in China”.

In 2018, he said: “The consequences will be tragic and long lasting, not only for the Church in China but for the whole Church because it damages the credibility.

“Maybe that’s why they might keep the agreement secret.”

He added: “The Holy See encouraged them to persevere and for so many years Popes praised their courage. And now they are being told to surrender.”

-With additional reporting from Press Association