ROME — The Chinese Communist Party has been naming Catholic bishops in the country without prior consultation with the Vatican, The Pillar reported this week.

The Vatican never revealed the contents of its 2018 deal with the CCP on the appointment of bishops but it was generally assumed that the Church had relinquished some of its unilateral authority to name prelates in China.

Now it would appear that at least in practice the Vatican has surrendered to the CCP all its authority to appoint bishops.

In the cases of last fall’s consecration of Bishop Thomas Chen Tianhao to the Diocese of Qingdao and last week’s ordination of Francis Cui Qingqi to lead the Diocese of Hankou-Wuhan, the announcements were made by the state-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) “without any prior announcement from Rome,” The Pillar observed, and only subsequently confirmed by the Vatican.

Citing sources close to the Vatican, The Pillar said the consecration of both bishops had been organized by the CPCA without consultation in Rome and that “Rome doesn’t announce the appointments ahead of time because no one knows.”

In point of fact, therefore, the Vatican appears expected to rubber stamp the CCP’s episcopal appointments, which are already public when the Vatican learns of them.

A crane is seen behind the gate of St Joseph’s Church, also known as Wangfujing Catholic Church, in Beijing on October 22, 2020, the day a secretive 2018 agreement between Beijing and the Vatican was renewed for another two years. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)

“Obviously, the Vatican was unable to refuse the appointment, even if the concrete possibilities of assessing its suitability were evidently limited,” declared AsiaNews, the official press agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, in the case of the September 8 ordination of Bishop Cui Qingqi.

As Breitbart News reported on September 6, Cui Qingqi is seen as a loyalist to the CCP who has actively worked against clergy faithful to Rome.

The consecration of Cui as the new bishop of Wuhan “had long been hoped for, as proof and symbol of the autonomy of the official Church recognised and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” AsiaNews stated.

Again citing unnamed sources, The Pillar noted that “the pope’s approval of a candidate may come before or after the CPCA’s final decision, or even not at all, effectively leaving Rome with the choice of accepting Chinese appointments as they happen, or else face a renewed schism between Rome and the CPCA.”

Last February, the online journal Bitter Winter reported that the CCP China had eliminated any role for the pope or the Vatican in the appointment and consecration of Catholic bishops in its new norms for religious clergy.

The Chinese national flag flies in front of St Joseph’s Church, also known as Wangfujing Catholic Church, in Beijing on October 22, 2020, the day a secretive 2018 agreement between Beijing and the Vatican was renewed for another two years. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)

The CCP has apparently reneged on its deal with the Vatican on the naming of Catholic bishops in the country, Bitter Winter declared, an observation that seems to have been confirmed by last week’s consecration.

“In a slap of the face of the Vatican, Catholics are told by article 16 that bishops in China should be democratically elected through the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, i.e., appointed by the CCP, and consecrated through the Chinese Catholic Bishops Conference,” Bitter Winter added.

“There is no mention of the Vatican or the Pope, which in theory should appoint the bishops under the Vatican-China deal of 2018, renewed in 2020,” the journal stated.