The Chinese government amalgamated three neighbouring dioceses, including the Archdiocese of Hankou, into the diocese of Wuhan, without approval from the Vatican. As a result, the bishops of Wuhan within the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Church are bishops of Wuhan, rather than archbishops of Hankou. In 2007, Bernardine Dong Guangqing who was the state-approved bishop of Wuhan died. In the same year Pope Benedict had issued a letter that recognized most of the state-approved bishops in China as being in communion with Rome and which tried to work towards progress in resolving the issues surrounding the difficult situation between the Vatican, the Chinese Catholic Church and the Chinese government. The Chinese government did not select a new bishop for the unrecognized diocese of Wuhan after Bishop Bernardine's death in 2007.[4]
In 2018 a secret agreement was reached between the Vatican and the Chinese government that allowed for the recognition of all the state-approved bishops and the creation of a mutually agreed framework for the appointment of new bishops. In September 2020, Fr. Francis was nominated by the government to become the new bishop of Wuhan. In June 2021, Pope Francis gave his approval to the ordination. He was ordained on September 8 (the feast of the birth of the Virgin Mary) at St. Joseph's Cathedral, Wuhan, which was also the previous seat of the Archbishop of Hankou. His principal consecrator was Ma Yinglin of the archdiocese of Kunming. Co-consecrators were Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of the archdiocese of Beijing and Bishop Shen Bin of the diocese of Haimen.[5]
