Catholic clampdown

THE Vatican City accused China of breaking a bilateral pact in an announcement made on April 4 after it appointed a new bishop to Shanghai, the largest Roman Catholic diocese in China.

The Holy See was reportedly informed of the decision to appoint Shen Bin as bishop of Shaghai several days ago, and the news has caused a stir in the Catholic community worldwide, who fear that the Chinese Communist Party may be trying to exercise greater power within the church.

Meanwhile, the Vatican has said that the city’s auxiliary bishop, Ma Daqin, should administer the diocese, but he has been under house arrest since 2012 when he publicly rejected the ‘Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association’.

However, in a positive step between the Vatican and China, both sides have recognised the pope as the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church for the first time since the 1950s.