Pope Benedict affirmed his support for Beijing's new state-approved Catholic bishop a few hours after Li Shan was installed, according to L'Osservatore Romano, Vatican’s official newspaper.

There are 8 to 12 million Catholics in China, but they’re divided between a state-sanctioned church and an underground church loyal to Vatican. The Holy See, expression which refers to the central government of the Catholic Church, has cut diplomatic ties with Beijing since 1951.

According to L'Osservatore, Catholic congregations in Beijing and Kwejang (which also got a new bishop - Xiao Zejiang) rejoiced "on receiving news of the communion conceded by the Pope to Monsignor Xiao and Monsignor Li".

The Vatican's representative entrusted "these two young prelates and their dioceses to the protection of the Virgin Mary".

Dozens of clerics and hundreds of parishioners attended the installment ceremony of Beijing’s new bishop. The 400-year-old Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, in which the ceremony was held, was surrounded by police forces, who were positioned south-east of Tiananmen Square to keep the foreign journalist out.
 
Father Joseph Li Shan took a traditional oath of service to the church that included a nod to government authority during the ceremony.

He vowed to "lead all the priests, seminarians and nuns of this diocese in adhering to the nation's constitution, maintaining national unification and social stability."

When Father Joseph Li Shan was chosen in July and announced as the future bishop of Beijing, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, said that Father Li was "very good, well-suited", calling his appointment "a positive sign".

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China by the Communist Party of China in 1949, the position of Catholicism as an institution in China has been very confusing.

Diplomatic ties with the Communist Party of China worsened especially following the recognition of the Taiwan government by the Vatican in 1951.

The Catholic Church is now officially banned in China but at the same time the Chinese government demands the loyalty to the state of all Chinese Catholics. Legally, worship must be conducted through State-approved churches belonging to the "Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association".