Shanghai Bishop Joseph Shen Bin met in Rome with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, for an anniversary of the Concilium Sinense, a landmark meeting in Shanghai a century ago that affirmed the need for foreign missionaries in China to give way to local church members. It is also significant that the interlocutor of the meeting was the Shanghai bishop, who had been appointed by the Chinese Government, but was then accepted by the Pope.
Cardinal Parolin expressed his hope of having “a stable presence in China” and “renewing and developing” a provisional agreement with Beijing which was struck in 2018 and is up for renewal in October. The Vatican retains diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which complicates the situation.
