China:In a sign of easing tensions between secular Beijing and the Holy See, China's state-approved Catholic Church installed a new Vatican-approved Bishop of Beijing at a packed ceremony yesterday to applause from the gathered faithful.
Fr Joseph Li Shan was made Bishop of Beijing at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, not far from Tiananmen Square at the city's heart.
Earlier this month, Paolo Xiao Zejiang was ordained Bishop of Guiyang, in Guizhou province, with Pope Benedict XVI's blessing, although it came against the background of the death in jail of an "underground" bishop.
The diocese of Beijing is a high-profile one and the ordination is significant because the bishop was almost certainly given the unofficial nod of approval by the Holy See in recent weeks. Church leaders say privately that the Vatican lets it be known if it does not approve of a choice of bishop, and in this case there was no message of disapproval from Rome.
The communists kicked all foreign religions out shortly after they swept to power in 1949, and the Vatican cut diplomatic ties to Beijing in 1951, transferring them to Taiwan instead.
China's officially atheist government requires that Christians of all denominations worship in state-registered churches and refuses to allow Catholics to recognise the authority of the pope. Catholics must join the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which was set up in 1957 and has five million members.
The Vatican estimates some eight million Chinese Catholics worship secretly in "underground churches" not recognised by the government.
Fr Li (42) replaces Fu Tieshan, who died in April, and was also chairman of the China Catholic Patriotic Association, but it was not clear if the new Bishop of Beijing would assume that role.
There has been quiet dialogue between the Vatican and the authorities in Beijing over establishing diplomatic relations, probably at the expense of recognition of Taiwan. The Vatican is one of the few states that recognises Taiwan, a state China considers a renegade province, and this is a key irritant to relations.
Obstacles to agreement include Beijing's demand to have a veto over anyone the Vatican appoints as bishop in China.
According to the Cardinal Kung Foundation in New York, there are four or five bishops in jail in China, with many others under house arrest and surveillance.