Vatican, China reach deal on naming bishops

ROME — The Vatican said Saturday it had reached a provisional deal with the Chinese government to end a decades-old power struggle over the right to appoint bishops in China. It was the communist country’s first formal recognition of the pope’s authority within the Roman Catholic Church in the world’s most populous nation, Vatican officials said.

Under the deal, Pope Francis recognized the legitimacy of seven bishops appointed by the Chinese government. Because they had not been selected by the Vatican, they had previously been excommunicated.

The agreement was in keeping with pope’s outreach to parts of the world where he hopes to increase the church’s presence and spread its message. It gives the church greater access to a huge population where the growth of Protestantism is far outpacing Catholicism.

But for critics loath to share any of the church’s authority with an authoritarian government, the accord marked a shameful retreat and the setting of a dangerous precedent for future relations with other countries.

If finalized, the deal would be the biggest breakthrough in often frosty relations between the two sides since they severed diplomatic ties in 1951. It could lead them to re-establish formal relations, but as a condition China would require the Vatican to cut ties with its rival, Taiwan. If the Vatican agreed, that would mark a major victory for China.

Other big questions remain, including who will have the final say over appointing bishops in China: the pope or the Chinese government.

For decades, many Chinese Catholics have risked arrest and persecution by worshipping in underground churches led by bishops appointed secretly by popes. China’s communist government has erected a parallel structure: a state-sanctioned, state-controlled Catholic Church. For years, dating back three papacies, the Vatican has sought to unify the two communities.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said the pope had committed “to make concrete fraternal gestures of reconciliation,” and suggested the truce would leave the church better able to function in China.

The Vatican released few details of the accord. It was not clear what would become of more than 30 underground bishops who were chosen by the pope but not recognized by the government.