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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Further information:

• Holy See and China extend Provisional Agreement on appointment of bishops (Vatican News)