Hong Kong bishop invites head of China’s state-backed church

BEIJING (AP) — Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic bishop has invited a leader of the Communist Party-controlled group for Catholics in mainland China to visit his city. The highly symbolic step step aims to improve strained Vatican relations with Beijing. That is according to a report by Hong Kong’s public broadcaster RTHK on Friday. Bishop Stephen Chow said Joseph Li, the head of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, appeared to be “quite positive” about his invitation. Chow’s five-day trip is the first visit to Beijing by Hong Kong’s bishop in nearly three decades and two weeks ago after Vatican News, the news portal of the Holy See, reported that China had unilaterally appointed a new bishop to Shanghai.