The Vatican and Beijing have agreed on a new bishop in China, closing a vacancy that had existed for 20 years, reports the South China Morning Post, writes UNN.
Details
On Wednesday, Joseph Chan Yanfeng was consecrated as the bishop of Chifeng in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China, highlighting the tension in diplomatic relations between Beijing and the Vatican over the delicate issue of Catholic appointments, the publication writes.
According to Vatican News, Pope Leo XIV approved Chan's appointment on June 15 in accordance with the terms of the 2018 provisional agreement between the Holy See and Beijing.
The consecration fills a vacancy in the Catholic Diocese of Chifeng that had existed for nearly two decades after the death of Andreas Zhu Wenyu in 2006, reports AsiaNews, a Catholic missionary news agency from Italy.
The consecration of the 42-year-old priest, who had served as the diocesan administrator of Chifeng since 2021, was performed by Bishop Paul Meng Qinglu of Hohhot, vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, as reported there. About 400 people attended the consecration, including priests, nuns, and laypeople from across Inner Mongolia.
Chan was born in Chengde, Hebei Province, in 1984, studied at the Shenyang Major Seminary, studied biblical theology in South Korea, and was ordained a priest in 2010.
He has spent his entire priesthood serving in the Diocese of Chifeng in various pastoral and leadership roles.
Shortly before the announcement of his appointment, Chan publicly pledged to align the diocese with China's law on promoting ethnic unity and progress, a policy criticized by human rights organizations for eroding minority languages and cultures, reports AsiaNews.
The choice of bishop remains a central point of contention in Beijing's relations with the Vatican, which remains the only European state that recognizes Taiwan, further complicating ties with Beijing, the publication points out.
The Holy See seeks to preserve papal authority, while Beijing insists on strict state oversight of religion and the political loyalty of religious communities.
The provisional agreement, which established a process by which Chinese authorities propose candidates for bishop while the Pope retains the right of final veto, was last renewed in 2024 until 2028, and aims to bridge decades of division between the state-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and underground communities loyal to Rome, the publication notes.
Since its signing, the agreement has facilitated the appointment or legalization of approximately two dozen bishops, affecting a significant portion of China's roughly 90+ dioceses and bringing all active bishops into full communion with Rome.
Chan's consecration continues this pattern under Pope Leo, who has approved several Chinese bishops since succeeding Pope Francis last year.
According to AsiaNews, this was the first such appointment in 2026 after the consecrations of Ignatius Wu Jianlin in Shanghai and Francis Li Jianlin in Xinxiang in late 2025.
The agreement is widely seen as a carefully crafted compromise, with supporters considering it the only realistic way to strengthen the church's institutional presence in China.
But critics, including human rights organizations, some Chinese Catholics, and retired Bishop of Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, argue that the agreement gives the Chinese Communist Party excessive influence over the church and risks subordinating pastoral freedom to political demands.