VATICAN CITY, July 29 (Reuters) – The Vatican announced on Wednesday the ordination of a second Chinese bishop in a week, highlighting ongoing cooperation with Beijing under a politically sensitive accord governing Catholic appointments in China.
Francis Xavier Duan Yongkun, 45, was ordained coadjutor bishop of Bameng, in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, after Pope Leo approved his candidacy last month, the Vatican said.
The announcement came a week after the Vatican disclosed the ordination of Joseph Chang Yanfeng as bishop of Chifeng, also in Inner Mongolia, under the same arrangement.
The back-to-back appointments underscore the cautious diplomatic engagement between Beijing and the Vatican over who gets to appoint Catholic bishops in China – one of the most sensitive issues in their relationship.
The provisional agreement, first signed in 2018 and renewed several times since, gives the pope the final say over bishop appointments while allowing Chinese authorities a role in proposing candidates.
Some conservative Catholics have criticized the deal, which was negotiated under the late Pope Francis, saying it gives too much influence to China’s ruling communists, who have kept a tight rein on religious practice since taking power in 1949.
The Vatican and China renewed the accord in October 2024, for a further four years. The text of the deal has never been published, but only described by diplomatic officials.
The Vatican has defended the accord as the best available mechanism for maintaining dialogue with Beijing and helping to unify China’s divided Catholic community, which has long been split between a state-recognised church and an underground church loyal to Rome.
Duan Yongkun was born in Inner Mongolia in 1980 and was ordained a priest in 2011. He studied in mainland China and Taiwan and most recently served as the bishop’s principal deputy in Bameng diocese.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Alvise Armellini and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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