Vatican rules out ‘imminent’ China deal on appointing bishops
Senior cleric in China’s state-approved Catholic church said earlier this week negotiations were in the final stages
A historic deal between China and the Vatican on the appointment of bishops is not “imminent,” a Vatican spokesman said on Thursday, but dialogue between the two sides continues.
“I can state that there is no imminent signature of an agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China,” said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke, contradicting an optimistic statement from a Chinese government-approved bishop.
“I would like to stress that the Holy Father Francis remains in constant contact with his collaborators on Chinese issues and is accompanying the steps of the ongoing dialogue,” he added.
A senior Vatican source said earlier on Thursday that the Vatican still did not know precisely when a Chinese delegation was due to come to Rome.
On Thursday, Bishop Guo Jincai, secretary general of the Bishops Conference of the Catholic Church in China, was quoted by the state-owned Global Times as saying that negotiations with the Vatican had reached “the final stages”.