Stephen Chow, Hong Kong's Top Catholic Cleric, Visits China Amid Tensions Over Beijing Installing New Bishop In Shanghai Without Vatican Consent

Stephen Chow Sau-yan, the top Catholic cleric in Hong Kong, is on a five-day visit to China amid simmering tensions between the Church and ruling Communist party.

Chow is the first Hong Kong bishop – the head of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong and overseen by the Vatican – to make an official visit to the mainland since 1994.

Chow and several of his senior priests are visiting China at the invitation of Bishop of Beijing Joseph Li Shan, who also serves as head of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

Chow said that the visit underscores the mission of the Hong Kong Diocese to be a bridge church and promote exchanges between the two sides.

The visit comes in the backdrop of a decision from Chinese authorities earlier this month to install Bishop Shen Bin, until now Bishop of Haimen, in the Diocese of Shanghai. Vatican said that it learnt about the step through media reports.

In November last year, the pope issued a statement expressing  “surprise and regret” at Chinese authorities’ move to make Peng Weizhao the auxiliary bishop of Jiangxi, a diocese that the Vatican does not recognise. The Vatican denounced the appointment saying it was “not in conformity with the spirit of dialogue that exists between the Vatican parties and the Chinese parties”.

China and the Catholic Church have been at loggerheads since 1951, two years after the founding of the communist People’s Republic.

China’s Catholic population, conservatively estimated to be around 12 million, is divided between a largely underground Church, swearing loyalty to the Vatican, and the state-sponsored Catholic Patriotic Association that the Vatican does not recognise.

For instance, Catholic churches in mainland China must register with and operate under Catholic Patriotic Association.

For decades, China has attempted to control the Catholic church hierarchy within its borders, going so far as to appoint bishops who were subsequently excommunicated by the Vatican because they were not chosen by the Pope.

In Sep 2018, Vatican announced that it had signed a provisional agreement with China on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in the country. Under the terms of the agreement, Pope Francis agreed to accord recognition to seven bishops appointed by Beijing. These seven appointees, finalised by the Communist Party officials, were previously not accepted by the church.

The deal angered many Christians across China and the world, who are opposing China’s tightening control of religion.

China had also announced a five-year plan to ‘sinicise’ Christianity. Over the past few months, thousands of ‘house churches’ have been shut down by authorities, reports have said. Authorities have also seized Bibles, and e-commerce sites in China have pulled out the book from their websites. Christians in China have reportedly been holding their masses in secret amid the crackdown.

In recent address to apparatchiks of the communist party, China’s new Premier Li Qiang said it was necessary for the party to “actively guide religions to adapt to socialist society” and said the process had been taking place gradually.