The Vatican on Saturday signed a landmark agreement giving it a long-desired say in the appointment of bishops in China, though critics labelled the deal a sellout to the Communist government.
The provisional agreement, signed in Beijing by deputy foreign ministers from both sides, was announced as Pope Francis visited Lithuania on a four-day trip to the Baltic countries.
The signatory for the Vatican was under secretary of state Mgr Antoine Camilleri, a Maltese from Sliema.
It gives the Holy See a decisive role in the appointment of all bishops in a country whose around 12 million Catholics have been split between an underground Church swearing loyalty to the Vatican and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association.
The Vatican said the accord, a breakthrough after years of negotiations, was “not political but pastoral.”
A Holy See statement did not mention Taiwan, which the Vatican recognises diplomatically and which China sees as a renegade province.
However, diplomats have said the accord was a possible precursor to a resumption in diplomatic relations with Beijing after 70 years. Beijing does not allow countries to have diplomatic relations with both China and…
