Head of China’s state-backed Catholic church begins historic trip to Hong Kong

By KANIS LEUNG
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — The head of the Catholic church in China has begun a trip to Hong Kong at the invitation of the city’s pope-appointed Roman Catholic cardinal, marking the first official visit by a Beijing bishop in history. Joseph Li, who was installed by China’s state-controlled Catholic church as an archbishop, visited the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Tuesday morning. Li’s five-day tour came after the city’s newly installed Cardinal Stephen Chow invited him to visit Hong Kong during a landmark trip to Beijing in April — the first visit to the Chinese capital by the city’s bishop in nearly three decades. Experts said the invitation was a symbolic gesture that could strengthen the fragile relationship between China and the Vatican.