China approves pope's recent outreach, will send Beijing bishop on Hong Kong visit

The communist regime in Beijing “well received” the outreach Pope Francis made to China earlier this month while he was in Mongolia because it allowed a mainland bishop to travel to Hong Kong, according to the archbishop of Hong Kong.

On September 3, the pope conveyed greetings to China from the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, describing its people as “noble” and urging Catholics there to be “good Christians and good citizens”.

Francis enlisted Chow and Cardinal John Tong Hon, his predecessor as the Archbishop of Hong Kong, to stand to the sides of him while he spoke when he made the spontaneous remarks.

“I was touched and I know the Holy Father was playing hard to get the message across to China. I was told later from some reliable source that his message was well received in China, even in the government,” Chow said.

Chow, the top Catholic official in Hong Kong, visited the Chinese capital in April for the first time in nearly 30 years. There are 600,000 Catholics in the former British territory.

“I think we have built up some type of relationships, some friendships,” Chow said, speaking of his April visit

“I have invited bishop (Joseph) Li Shan, the bishop of Beijing to come down to Hong Kong. I think they are really considering it very seriously so hopefully this will happen,” Chow said.

Asked if Li had received permission to travel, Chow said “He has, he has.” Asked if Li would be coming, Chow said “I think this has to be finalised,” but he repeated that Li had received permission.

Beijing has been enforcing allegiance to the Communist Party and eradicating foreign influences through its “Sinicization” of religion programme. In China, there are thought to be 10–12 million Catholics.

A historic deal reached in 2018 between the Vatican and China on the appointment of bishops has been at best shaky, and the Vatican has complained that Beijing has broken it repeatedly.

Conservative members of the Church have charged the Vatican with betraying Christendom by entering into the agreement, which has thrice been extended. According to the Vatican, a flawed agreement is preferable than no conversation at all.

In order to prevent incidents like when the new bishop of Shanghai was installed without consulting with the Vatican, Chow expressed the hope that he would be able to encourage more and better communication between the Vatican and Beijing.

“I think that there should be more dialogue, more opportunities and more willingness to open up (because) when dialogue is not sufficient we make assumptions and that is where things break down. So if we talk more those assumptions can be tested out,” he said.

(With agency inputs)