Pope Urges Chinese Catholics To Unite In Light Of Vatican-Beijing Bishop Nominations Deal

Pope Francis called on Wednesday on the Chinese Catholic community to reconcile after Beijing and the Vatican settled the decade-long dispute on Chinese bishops appointments.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th September, 2018) Pope Francis called on Wednesday on the Chinese Catholic community to reconcile after Beijing and the Vatican settled the decade-long dispute on Chinese bishops appointments.

On Saturday, the Vatican and Beijing signed a landmark deal on Chinese bishop nominations. Francis said that bishops would now be nominated via dialogue between the Chinese authorities and Vatican, but the pope would be the one to have the final word. According to Francis, the move will lead to the "full communion" of all Catholics in China.

"On the pastoral level, the Catholic community in China is called to be united, so as to overcome the divisions of the past that have caused, and continue to cause great suffering in the hearts of many pastors and faithful.

All Christians, none excluded, must now offer gestures of reconciliation and communion," the pontiff said in his letter to the faithful.

The bishop appointments issue was the major stumbling block to restoring diplomatic relations between Vatican and Beijing which governs China's 12-million Catholic community via the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. The association is outside the pope's authority and has been nominating China's bishops without recognition of the Holy See. Thousands of underground clergymen who refused to recognize the association and remained loyal to the pope have frequently been detained and intimidated.