The leader of Hong Kong’s Catholics has emphasised the need to maintain a “better understanding” and “better relationship” between the Vatican and mainland China, saying that such “bridge-building” under the late Pope Francis should continue.
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Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, who is in Rome preparing for the coming conclave that starts on Wednesday to elect a new pope, acknowledged that some Catholics disliked the Vatican-Beijing agreement struck under Francis over the appointment of bishops on the mainland but said “to be antagonistic with each other” was not a good thing.
In an interview with the Catholic magazine America, Chow praised Pope Francis for having “changed the face of the church”, making it “a lot more human” and “inclusive” during his 12-year pontificate.
“I think Francis’ impact was universal, and not just in Hong Kong or in China, where there is now a provisional agreement on the nomination of bishops,” Chow, bishop of the Hong Kong diocese, said in the interview published online on Friday.
The 2018 provisional deal between the two sides – renewed in 2020, 2022 and most recently in October last year – is intended to regulate the appointment of bishops on the mainland through a joint process.
The Holy See believes the agreement resolves a decades-long split between the underground church, which swears loyalty to the Vatican, and the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.