Le ragioni storiche e diplomatiche alla base dell’accordo sino- vaticano per la nomina dei Vescovi (2018)

On September 22, 2018, we witnessed one of the most anticipated events in Vatican diplomatic circles: the signing of a Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China for the appointment of bishops. This agreement, signed in Beijing by Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, Under-Secretary for the Holy See's Relations with States, and Wang Chao, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Beijing government, still aims to provide a solution to the long-standing problem of the appointment of bishops in China. Therefore, the work presented below aims to investigate the historical and diplomatic causes that made it necessary to enter into the above-mentioned Agreement, without neglecting the study of the events that originated the rift between the Holy See and People's China (1949). In the following analysis, attention will also be paid to the process that fostered the birth of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (APCC), which, by becoming an instrument of the Chinese Communist Party's religious policy, determined a deep crack within the community of the Chinese Catholic faithful.