Pope Leo XIV made his first appointment of a Chinese bishop under the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with Beijing, signalling he is continuing one of Pope Francis’ most controversial foreign policy decisions.

The 2018 accord sought to resolve the issue of who has authority to appoint bishops.

According to Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the vicar general of Rome, there are 8,020 priests and deacons currently in the diocese, of which 809 are permanent Rome diocesan priests.