Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun has announced he will retire as Hong Kong’s bishop in April, but he won’t be ending his active service on behalf of the Church.

Instead, the cardinal said in an interview with the diocesan weekly Kung Kao Po that he’ll be focusing on issues that concern the Chinese Church as a whole, Catholic News Service reported yesterday.

Said Cardinal Zen, “China is a big country; the situation of the China Church is complicated.”

Indeed, the situation of the Church in China is extremely complex, and according to this recent analysis by the Catholic news agency Asianews, relations between Beijing and Rome continue to be difficult.

The analysis, written by Asianews director Father Bernardo Cervellera, analyzes an apparent shift away from the Vatican and towards the Communist government by Bishop Joseph Li Shan, who was ordained as the bishop of Beijing in September 2007 with Vatican approval.

Two Catholic Churches operate in China. One is the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which does not recognize Rome’s authority; the other is the so-called “underground Catholic Church,” which is led by bishops who are loyal to the Pope.

But in recent years, most of the bishops of the Patriotic Association have sought and received approval from the Vatican.

Although Bishop Li was appointed by the Patriotic Association as bishop of Beijing, his appointment was regarded initially as a signal of improved relations between the government-controlled Church and the Vatican. But Father Cervellera reports that recent public statements by Bishop Li suggest the opposite.

Father Cervellera said that Bishop Li’s comments are one of a number of indications that the hierarchy of the Patriotic Church is conforming with government pressure instructing the Patriotic Church to distance itself from the Pope’s authority.

Based on sources from within China, Father Cervellera gave this warning in his analysis:

“Many bishops and believers are afraid that given this situation of weakness 2009 might see a new series of unlawful ordinations, designed to build up a core of ‘patriotic’ prelates, all obedient to the Communist Party.

“Should this happen, conversions to Catholicism might dry up, especially among intellectuals who are discovering in the teachings of the Church the bases for their demands for freedom and respect for the individual.”