ROME – The state-sanctioned Catholic church in China has seen a new bishop’s appointment made alongside the establishment of a new diocese on the mainland for the first time since Mao’s Communist revolution.
On 29 January, the Vatican confirmed that Bishop Anthony Sun Venjun, 53, had been appointed to lead the Diocese of Weifang that was created in April 2023. It marks the first formal creation of a new diocese by the Holy See in China since the Communist revolution in 1949.
"Both decisions – the erection of the new diocese and the appointment of its first pastor – took place in April 2023, but were announced on the day of the Bishop’s consecration," reportsVatican News. "The appointment was made in the context of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China."
In April 2023, the Vatican announced it had "suppressed" the apostolic prefecture of Yiduxian in China while establishing the Diocese of Weifang in a bid to “promote the pastoral care of the Lord’s flock and to attend more effectively to its spiritual good".
