China ordains its seventh bishop since Pope Leo XIV's election

Andrew Ding Yang was ordained archbishop of Chongqing, in Sichuan province, on September 8, 2026, at a ceremony in St. Joseph's Cathedral. He is the seventh bishop ordained in China since the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025.

The Vatican announced Ding Yang's appointment on July 28, after it was approved under the provisional agreement between the Holy See and China, signed in 2018 and renewed several times. The agreement gives both sides a part in the appointment of bishops. Its stated aim is to unite Catholics in China, who have long been divided between the state-controlled official Church and the underground Church that remains loyal to the Vatican. The ordination came just a week after that of another bishop, Paul Liu Honggang, in the diocese of Datong in northern China.

Chongqing: strategic weight and historical roots

Chongqing is one of four autonomous municipalities under the direct administration of China's central government. It is an economic, industrial and transport hub with a population of about 30 million. The archdiocese was originally established in 1856 and raised to its present status in 1946 by Pope Pius XII. The ordination Mass was presided over by Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing, president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), a body the Vatican has not officially recognized.

Close ties to the Communist Party

Ding Yang was born in Chongqing on September 16, 1981. He is known for his closeness to Chinese state authorities and for his explicit support for the policy of sinicization of religion promoted by the Chinese Communist Party. That policy requires all religious organizations to align themselves with communist ideology and to put loyalty to the Party above other considerations. He studied at the seminary in Beijing from 2000 to 2006 and was ordained a priest on May 24, 2007. He has held various parish posts in Chongqing and pursued further theological studies in Macau and in Rome.

He was chosen as archbishop by the CCPA, but the appointment required Vatican approval.

The agreement and the numbers

With Ding Yang's ordination, 18 Chinese bishops have been ordained or recognized by the Vatican since the provisional agreement was signed in 2018.

The agreement has drawn criticism. Human rights organizations and some within the Catholic Church have said it amounts to a betrayal of Catholics who remained loyal to the Vatican while facing systematic persecution under communist rule. They have also said the Chinese Communist Party has used the agreement to silence Vatican criticism of human rights violations in China, including the repression of religious minorities, ethnic minorities and political dissidents.

Unresolved tensions with the underground Church

The agreement's stated goal of uniting Chinese Catholics remains hindered by deep mistrust. Underground Catholics, who kept their faith for decades at personal risk, see ordinations carried out under the agreement as recognition of authorities that have not respected religious freedom. The role of the CCPA, a state body, in the selection of bishops has raised concerns about how much autonomy the Church in China actually has.