Vatican rules out China bishop deal

■ Catholic Church, Vatican are negotiating appointment of bishops ◗ The Vatican relaunched longstalled negotiations with Beijing three years ago on the question of appointment of bishops ◗ The question of whether China or the Holy See gets to designate bi

Rome, March 29: A historic deal between China and the Vatican on the appointment of bishops is not “imminent,” a Vatican spokesman said on Thursday, contradicting an optimistic statement from a Chinese governmentapproved bishop.

“I can state that there is no imminent signature of an agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China,” said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.

“I would like to stress that the Holy Father Francis remains in constant contact with his collaborators on Chinese issues and is accompanying the steps of the ongoing dialogue,” he added.

On Thursday, Bishop Guo Jincai, secretary- general of the Bishops Conference of the Catholic Church in China, was quoted by the state- owned Global Times as saying that negotiations with the Vatican had reached “the final stages”.

“If everything goes right, the deal could be signed as early as the end of this month,” said Guo, who is recognised by China’s Communist government.

The Vatican relaunched long- stalled negotiations with Beijing three years ago. The question of whether China or the Holy See gets to designate bishops has been a major obstacle to progress. Under a potential deal, the Vatican could agree to recognise seven bishops who were chosen by the Communist government, in the hope that Beijing would accept the Pope’s authority as head of the Catholic Church in China.