Catholic envoy visits Beijing as China-Vatican tensions simmer

One of Asia’s most senior Catholic clerics is meeting officials in Beijing, as a deal between the Vatican and China over the church’s role in the communist state appears to be fraying.

Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan, the top Catholic cleric in Hong Kong, will be the first senior church official from the Chinese territory to visit Beijing since 1994. The visit, which follows an invitation last year from his counterpart in the Chinese capital, comes after Beijing this month unilaterally appointed a new bishop in Shanghai, one of China’s biggest dioceses.