Vatican-China agreement

Authorities in northern China have arrested a Vatican-appointed Catholic bishop, his seven priests and 10 seminarians in what is seen as part of a renewed crackdown on the underground Catholic Church in the communist country.

The Vatican and China have agreed to extend provisional agreement signed two years ago regarding the appointment of bishops.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said that Pope Benedict XVI also approved of the Vatican-China agreement on bishops that Pope Francis plans to renew.

As the Vatican-China agreement on the naming of bishops approaches two years, the Vatican has proposed to the Chinese government that they extend an agreement.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that the Vatican “endangers its moral authority” by considering an extension of its 2018 agreement with China on the nomination of bishops.

As the Vatican-China agreement on the naming of bishops approaches two years, Beijing is still lagging behind in giving concessions compared with those made ahead of the deal by the Vatican.

Weeks after the first anniversary of the deal between the Vatican and the People’s Republic of China on the appointment of bishops — the first formal agreement between the two countries since the 1950s — Beijing promulgated a fresh batch of regulations governing places of worship.

China’s ruling Communist Party continues to persecute at least half of China’s more than 12 million Catholics despite last September’s agreement with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops.