China pressuring priest at center of agreement with Vatican

A Chinese Catholic priest whose demotion was key to a now-stalled effort at reconciliation between China and the Vatican is now being pressured to join the official Communist Party-controlled church organization

A priest says a Chinese Catholic official whose demotion was key to a now-stalled effort at reconciliation between China and the Vatican is being pressured to join the official Communist Party-controlled church organization.

Monsignor Vincenzo Guo Xijin was one of two legitimate bishops who remain loyal to the pope who were asked last year by the Vatican to step aside. That was part of the controversial agreement that also called for the Holy See to recognize seven bishops who had been appointed by Beijing without papal consent.

The Rev. Peng Zhekang, a priest in Guo’s diocese, says local government and religious affairs department officials, along with party representatives, are calling on Guo daily in an effort to persuade him to the join the officially sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association,