Joseph Shen Bin recognized
Pope bows to Chinese will
7/16/2023 5:43 p.m
The Pope actually appoints all the bishops of the Catholic Church worldwide himself. But the Chinese authorities are once again not playing along and are acting without the knowledge of the Holy See when making an appointment. For the “higher benefit” of the faithful, Francis gives his belated blessing.
Pope Francis has retrospectively recognized the Bishop of Shanghai, Joseph Shen Bin, who was appointed by the People’s Republic of China in April. At that time, Beijing had withdrawn the Catholic clergyman from the diocese of Haimen and transferred them to the metropolis with more than 25 million inhabitants without involving the Vatican. Now the Pope gave the green light with a brief message.
According to the Vatican, it is up to the pontifex alone to appoint bishops. China’s approach therefore contradicts this “Spirit of dialogue and cooperation”, which was laid down in an agreement with China in 2018 on how to appoint bishops, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin told Vatican News. However, Shen Bin is a “respected pastor”.
The medium had also previously reported that the Holy See was only aware of the institution learned from the media and that a similar appointment by Chinese authorities had already taken place in November 2022, when the Holy See was “astonished” to note the appointment of an auxiliary bishop.
Holy See hopes for more consensus
Referring to Shen Bin’s appointment, Cardinal Parolin said Francis accepted China’s unilateral step for the “higher benefit” of the faithful in Shanghai and therefore decided to “correct the canonical irregularity”. It is hoped that future decisions will be made by consensus. Proper application of the agreement would make it possible “to avoid such difficulties,” said Parolin. China and the Holy See do not have diplomatic relations.
Joseph Shen Bin was born on February 23, 1970 in Qidong, Jiangsu Province, according to Vatican News. After studying philosophy and theology, he was ordained a priest in 1996. In 2010, with the mutual consent of the Holy See and the Chinese authorities, he was appointed Bishop of Haimen.