Pope backs Beijing's new state-approved bishop
Fri Sep 21, 2007

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has given his backing to Beijing's new state-approved Catholic bishop, the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said on Friday, hours after Li Shan was installed in the Chinese capital.

The Holy See has had no diplomatic ties with Beijing since 1951 and China's estimated 8 to 12 million Catholics are divided between a state-sanctioned church and an underground church wary of government ties. the rest