(ZENIT News – Asia News / Beijing, 10.29.2024).- On the morning of Friday, October 25, the ordination of the new Coadjutor Bishop, Monsignor Matthew Zhen Xuebin, took place in Beijing. The rite was presided over by Bishop Joseph Li Shan, who has led the diocese of the Chinese capital since 2007, and was held at the Cathedral of the Savior, known as the «North Church» in the Xicheng District, with the presence of around 140 priests and 500 faithful representing the Catholic communities of Beijing and Shanxi, the new bishop’s homeland.
The celebration took place in the Cathedral of the Saviour, the so-called Church of the North in Xicheng district, in the presence of about 140 priests and 500 faithful representing the Catholic community of Beijing but also that of Shanxi, from where the new bishop hails.
The Vatican Press Office also reported the ordination, as is now customary thanks to the agreement between the Vatican and China on episcopal appointments, noting that Pope Francis had approved the candidature on 28 August, thus before the renewal of the agreement, for four years, was announced on Tuesday.
It is also worth noting that in publishing the profile of Bishop Zhen, who was born on 10 May 1970 in Changzhi, the Vatican Press Office also mentions that after his first years at the seminary of Beijing and before his priestly ordination, “he continued his studies at Saint John’s University, United States,” which he attended between 1993 and 1997, “obtaining a licentiate in liturgy».
This detail about his studies in the United States was omitted in the biographical notes published on the official website of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
Four other bishops joined Archbishop Li Shan at the ordination: Bishop Peter Ding Lingbin of Changzhi (Bishop Zhen’s home diocese), Bishop Joseph Guo Jincai of Chengde, Bishop John Baptist Li Suguang of Nanchang, and Bishop Anthony Yao Shun of Jining.
Fides, the news agency of the Pontifical Mission Societies, covered the episcopal ordination, citing some of the words the new coadjutor bishop said during the celebration, inspired by the episcopal motto he chose “All this I do for the sake of the gospel” (1 Cor 9:23), which stands out on his coat of arms.
“I am grateful to the Lord for his grace in choosing me, a humble servant, as Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Beijing,” the new bishop is quoted as saying. “I am aware that I do not have the qualities required for the task entrusted to me, but I accept it in faith and entrust myself to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Matthew the Apostle, trusting with all my heart and promising to dedicate myself entirely to the fulfilment of my pastoral duties, because ‘All this I do for the sake of the gospel’.”
Fides also reports that Pope Francis’s approval for the appointment was expressly mentioned. By contrast, no Chinese source cited any statement by Archbishop Li Shan, nor any official explanation as to why a coadjutor bishop was designated for Beijing at this time.
Unlike an auxiliary bishop, the coadjutor bishop has the right of succession at the head of a diocese; for this reason, he is usually appointed when the office holder is elderly or sick and the handover is considered relatively imminent. In this case, the current Archbishop of Beijing, Li Shan, is 59 years old, that is, just five years older than Zhen Xuebin.
According to some sources, Li Shan himself asked for the appointment of a coadjutor, suggesting the name of the priest who had been his closest aide for some time in running the archdiocese.
In addition to being archbishop, Mgr Li also chairs the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and is vice-president of the Council of Chinese Bishops.
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