Move is first concrete sign of a thaw between the Holy See and Beijing following a landmark agreement
Catholic bishops from China will for the first time attend a major Vatican meeting starting this week, the Vatican said on Monday, the first concrete sign of a thaw between the Holy See and Beijing following a landmark agreement.
“There will be two bishops from continental China. They were invited by the pope,” Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri told a news conference. “I think they are already on their way to Rome.”
Baldisseri said it was the first time the Beijing government has allowed bishops to leave the country to attend a Vatican synod, a meeting which takes place every few years on a different topic.
The deal, which was in the making for more than 10 years and signed on Sept. 22, gives the Vatican a long-sought say in the choice of bishops in China, though critics have labeled it a sellout to the Communist government.
China’s approximately 12 million Catholics have been split between an underground Church swearing loyalty to the Vatican and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association.
