Beijing, China - China's official Catholic church on Friday installed a new Vatican-approved bishop of Beijing in a sign of quiet dialogue between China and the Holy See despite the lack of diplomatic relations.
The Holy See had blessed the choice, even though no formal Vatican approval was announced at the ordination, officials and experts said.
"Father Joseph Li Shan was ordained the bishop of Beijing in a ceremony held here this morning," Sister Yu Shuqin, a spokeswoman at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, told AFP.
In July, the Catholic World News quoted Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as calling Li "a very good and qualified individual."
The agreement over the bishop between Beijing and the Vatican signals increasing conciliation between China's atheist leaders and a Holy See that has sought greater communion with growing numbers of Chinese believers.
Li, 42, replaces Fu Tieshan, who died in April, as head of the country's highest-profile diocese.
Fu also served as chairman of the China Catholic Patriotic Association, the nation's communist-administered official church, which has no formal ties with the Vatican.
It was not immediately clear if Li would also be named to head the official state church.
"We are praying constantly for the normalisation of ties between China and Vatican," Father Sun Shangen, a priest of the Beijing diocese, said after the ordination.
"If the news that the Vatican approved the new bishop is true, we would be very happy and welcome it."
According to Sister Beatrice Leung, a noted expert on Chinese Catholicism at the University of Hong Kong, the Vatican quietly approved Li months ago.
"Chinese bishop-elects regularly seek the pope's blessing before their ordination, but they do this secretly so as to avoid trouble with the official church," Leung told AFP.
The pope would communicate his approval in an equally low-key manner, she said.
"If the pope had not agreed with the Chinese appointment, then the Vatican would have strongly protested," Leung said. "This has not happened."
Relations between the Vatican and China have been rocky since Beijing severed ties in 1951 in anger over the Holy See's diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.
In 1957, China set up the Patriotic Association, which formally oversees China's officially registered Catholics, estimated at numbering about five million.
However, up to 10 million "underground" Chinese Catholics pledge allegiance to the pope, worship in unofficial churches and are often subject to police and government harassment.
In recent years, the Vatican has voiced hopes that the two churches can be reconciled, especially as the numbers of both official and unofficial Catholics have grown with greater religious freedoms during China's reform period.
In a June letter to the Chinese faithful, Pope Benedict XVI called for unity in an overture widely seen as a call to restart normalisation talks.
Following Friday's ordination, China's foreign ministry reiterated its position that diplomatic relations can only be established after the Vatican cuts its ties with Taiwan and pledges not to use religion to interfere in its internal affairs.
"We hope that the Vatican side can proceed from the overall relations between China and Vatican," the ministry said in a statement.
We hope the Vatican "can fully consider the situation and history of the China Catholic Patriotic Association and treat the association with a positive attitude aimed at pushing forward the clergy and improving church administration."
The statement said China was willing to engage the Vatican in constructive dialogue towards improving future relations.