What to Expect After Shen Bin’s Installation in Shanghai Diocese (Part 1)
Lucia Cheung, April 16, 2023
Bishop Shen Bin of Haimen Diocese, chairman of the Bishops Conference of the Catholic Church in China, has long been rumored to be the bishop of Shanghai, and it finally became a reality. But last month, there was a rumor that his installation set for March was postponed and that the one to be installed was someone else. Now the answer was revealed with the installation on April 4. With Bishop Shen taking charge, what would happen to Shanghai Diocese?
New Situation of the Leading Diocese in the Catholic Church in China
1. Fight for the Control of Shanghai Diocese
Shanghai has been historically an important diocese for the Catholic Church. Since the two Auxiliary Bishops, Joseph Xing Wenzhi and Thaddeus Ma Daqin, withdrew from public sight in 2011 and 2012, and the deaths of Coadjutor Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian in 2013 and Bishop Joseph Fan Zhongliang in 2014, the diocese has been without an active bishop for almost ten years. Though there is a 5-member management committee in the open Church community, it is after all not a Church hierarchical structure. The Holy See will not rashly appoint a bishop for the underground community either, considering the consequence to its provisional agreement with China and the communion of the Church. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Bishop Jin’s death, and the issue of the vacant see should be resolved. It naturally becomes the most concerned issue for the Vatican and the Chinese Catholics.
On the other hand, after Bishop Jin took charge of the diocese, he continued his good relationship with the government officials, and the authority is happy to use the Shanghai diocese to showcase the Chinese Catholic Church. However, the series of events that occurred since Bishop Xing’s withdrawal from the public have foreshadowed that the relationship between Bishop Jin and the government has changed from what it used to be, especially Beijing’s cold attitude to his funeral. With the shuffle of local officials, the new ones dare not give too much freedom to the diocese anymore to prevent similar events as in the episcopal ordination on July 7, 2012, where Bishop Thaddeus Ma announced publicly to quit the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA). Therefore, for China, the bishop candidate for Shanghai must be grasped firmly in its hands. In other words, this leading Chinese diocese is something China and the Vatican are vying for control.
2. Difficult Road Ahead for Bishop Shen Bin
Shortly after Bishop Thaddeus Ma’s incident, there was the saying that Bishop Shen would be sent to head the diocese as one of the solutions. Nothing happened then. In recent years, it was widely rumored that Bishop Ma Yinglin, former chairman of the Bishops’ Conference, intends to “parachute” to Shanghai from his peripheral Kunming diocese in Yunnan. This may explain why it was suddenly rumored that he was the candidate to come instead of Shen Bin last month. Looking back at the Ninth National Congress of Chinese Catholic Representatives in 2016, when Shen became the executive vice chair of both the Bishops’ Conference and the CCPA, effectively taking the power of Ma Yinglin partially away, it was already a sign that Ma Yinglin is no longer politically trustworthy. This year’s 14th National Congress of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference made it more apparent that Ma Yinglin can’t be in charge of Shanghai because, among the 11 Catholic representatives on the list, Bishop Shen Bin, chairman of the Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Li Shan, chairperson of the CCPA, and Bishop Fang Xingyao, honorary chairman of the both the Bishops’ Conference and CCPA, all became members of the CPPCC Standing Committee, but Ma Yinglin was not even an ordinary CPPCC member. This is a clear signal from Beijing that his political life is over. Furthermore, the demolition of Ma Yinglin’s Kunming cathedral in 2021, on the pretext of illegal construction, was a sign that he was “abandoned.” There are certainly reasons for that. To name one, when Pope Francis and the President of China both visited the United States in September 2015, Ma, still an illicit bishop at that time, was politically incorrect to visit the US during the same period hoping to meet with the Pope. The modest Catholics would regard a bishop without an official position as a good candidate. But under the political reality in mainland China, how would Beijing allow such a vital diocese to be run by an abandoned choice?
Bishop Shen started to skyrocket at the Ninth Catholic Congress, which means he is a politically reliable candidate. But it would be too optimistic to think that everything will turn out fine for him in Shanghai. When everyone believed that the regime would accomplish whatever it wanted, the postponement of his installation when it was set to take place in March meant that his transfer was not without resistance.
The xenophobic nature of Shanghainese is well known; and Catholics in general also believe that Shanghai priests and nuns are more united in the face of external force. During the July 7 ordination in 2012, it was said that technical problems with the ceremonial arrangements and the microphone were acts to subtly resist an illicit bishop’s participation. Now for the April 4 installation, the seats were fixed with nameplates. Shanghai priests and nuns are smart enough to attend. Therefore, it may not be possible to see the actual degree of resistance. However, it is noteworthy that in the press release that day, there was a typo writing “Bishop” (zhu jiao主教) as “Master” (jiao zhu教主, meaning a leader of a religion or sect). Though it was corrected quickly, Chinese Catholics have already circulated the screenshot, and people in the WeChat groups now derogate him as “Master Shen” instead of Bishop Shen.
The Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday (April 6) might be a clearer indicator of support as it symbolizes communion between the priests and their bishop. According to the “Catholic in China” website, more than 70 priests were present that day, and more than 300 nuns, seminarians and lay people attended. That is to say, the church venue is only half full, and it is said that tickets are still required for admission.
Of course, being able to become the chairman of the Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Shen is no foolish guy. A netizen quoted a sentence that Bishop Shen made in his speech, showing that he understands his circumstance well: “The post of Shanghai bishop is not for anyone who wants it, and it is also not something one can reject even if he wants to reject.”
3. Shanghai Bishops Do-Re-Mi
Since the new bishop was chosen by Beijing, the faithful generally reacted negatively. What’s more, the Church media outside China, without clearly understanding the real background of the changes in Shanghai, suggested that the Vatican wanted Bishop Xing to come out to head the diocese. Bishop Thaddeus Ma, one of the protagonists, posted on social media WeChat Moments on the evening of April 4, thanking God for the new bishop and calling on the faithful to obey him with faith and respect. The arrival of Shen Bin is indeed the first step for Bishop Thaddeus Ma to have the opportunity for change. Shen is the bishop of Shanghai Diocese and the chairman of the Bishops’ Conference. He has the full authority to reinstate the episcopal status that Bishop Ma was removed. Of course, everyone knows it is the authority who decides behind the scenes, just as Bishop Shen said, it is not something you can do because you want to or something you can refuse to do just because you don’t want to. However, in the foreseeable future, Bishop Thaddeus Ma’s status as auxiliary bishop will not be changed even if he is reinstated due to the impact of his July 7 ordination.
As for Father Wu Jianlin, another widely rumored bishop candidate, he also encountered resistance. He is the deputy secretary-general of the Bishops’ Conference and deputy director of Shanghai CPA. Since most Shanghai Catholics are proud of not belonging to the CPA, Father Wu is also not accepted by most faithful. As mentioned above, since Bishop Jin had lost the trust of the government, Beijing naturally also doubted Father Wu, whom Bishop Jin appointed to lead the management committee.
Moreover, although the Shanghai clergy is said to be united, it is actually divided into two factions: the Shanghai natives and those from other provinces. It is not easy for Shanghai-born Father Wu to get full support of all priests of the other faction. However, since he has a post in the Bishops’ Conference and is one of the two priests in the CPPCC, he still can show his political reliability. In addition, after Shen took office, he immediately decided to maintain the management committee. Shen fills the vacancy left by the late former chancellor Father Shen Baozhi and becomes the head. But he also makes Father Wu stay in the committee, which shows that the latter still has a good chance to become the coadjutor bishop.