Hong Kong bishop hopes for closer ties with Beijing diocese

BEIJING (AP) — Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic bishop says he hopes the dioceses of Hong Kong and Beijing will have more exchanges and cooperation. That’s according to a Hong Kong public broadcaster’s report Thursday of Bishop Stephen Chow’s remarks during Mass in Beijing. Chow’s five-day trip is the first visit to Beijing by Hong Kong’s bishop in nearly three decades. It came two weeks after Vatican News, the news portal of the Holy See, reported that China had unilaterally appointed a new bishop to Shanghai. The Vatican and China had signed a provisional agreement over the appointment of bishops in 2018. The agreement was a breakthrough on an issue that stymied diplomatic relations for decades and aggravated a split among Chinese Catholics.