The head of the Catholic church in China began a visit to Hong Kong on Tuesday on the invitation of the town’s pope-appointed Roman Catholic cardinal, marking the primary official visit by a Beijing bishop in history.
Joseph Li, who was installed by China’s state-controlled Catholic church as an archbishop, visited the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception within the morning, public broadcaster RTHK said.
Li’s five-day tour got here after the town’s newly installed Cardinal Stephen Chow invited him to go to Hong Kong during a landmark trip to Beijing in April — the primary visit to the Chinese capital by the town’s bishop in nearly three a long time. Experts said the invitation was a symbolic gesture that would strengthen the delicate relationship between China and the Vatican.
Earlier this month, Chow said his job is to foster higher communication between the perimeters, and underscored the importance of human connections when asked in regards to the significance of Li’s visit.
The Hong Kong diocese said Li would meet with Chow and “different diocesan offices to advertise exchanges and interactions between the 2 dioceses.” It said that is the primary time a Beijing bishop has officially visited Hong Kong, without disclosing further details about Li’s trip.
Beijing and the Vatican severed diplomatic ties in 1951 following the Communist Party’s rise to power and the expulsion of foreign priests. Since the break in ties, Catholics in China have been divided between those that belong to an official, state-sanctioned church and people in an underground church loyal to the pope. The Vatican recognizes members of each as Catholics but claims the exclusive right to decide on bishops.
The Vatican and China signed an accord in 2018 over the thorny issue of bishop nominations, but Beijing has violated it. Most recently Pope Francis was forced to just accept the unilateral appointment of a recent bishop of Shanghai.
Francis in September insisted that the Vatican’s relations with China were going well but said work must still be done to point out Beijing that the Catholic church isn’t beholden to a foreign power. During his trip to Mongolia that month, he also sent a special greeting to China’s “noble” people, giving them a special shout-out at the tip of a Mass.
The 2018 agreement has been harshly criticized by Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, who was detained in May last 12 months on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed national security law that jailed or silenced many activists. He was released on bail and has yet to be formally charged, but he and five others were fined in a separate case last November for failing to register a now-defunct fund arrange to assist arrested protesters.
