Beijing tells new Catholic leaders to ‘fend off infiltration by foreign forces’
- Top political adviser Wang Yang met the newly elected leaders of two state-sponsored church bodies in China
- He urged them to deepen ‘Sinicisation’ by fostering politically reliable clergy so control remains in the hands of patriots
Top political adviser Wang Yang has urged new Catholic leaders in China to resist foreign influence and ensure that control of the church remains in the hands of patriots.
He made the remarks after the two state-sponsored Catholic Church bodies in China elected new leaders at a twice-a-decade conference that wrapped up in Wuhan, Hubei province on Saturday.
During the three-day meeting, Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing was appointed chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, replacing Bishop John Fang Xingyao of the Shandong diocese.
Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of the Haimen diocese was elected to replace Archbishop Joseph Ma Yinglin of Kunming diocese as the new chairman of the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China.
The new leaders met Wang – No 4 in the Communist Party and chairman of China’s top political advisory body – in Beijing on Tuesday, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Wang said that under the new leaders, the Catholic community was expected to fully implement Beijing’s policy on the “Sinicisation” of religion and firmly uphold the party’s leadership, according to the report.
