The ordination ceremony was held three days after the Vatican and China renewed an agreement on appointing bishops in the communist nation for another four years.
Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing diocese led the liturgy along with four other Chinese bishops — Peter Ding Lingbin of Shanxi, Joseph Guo Jincai of Chengde, John Baptist Li Suguang of Nanchang and Anthony Yao Shun of Jining.
Matthew Zhen became the tenth bishop ordained after the Vatican and China signed an agreement in 2018 on appointing bishops in China.
The Vatican said the agreement aimed to end Catholic divisions in China, where the Church is divided into a state-approved open Church and a Vatican-following underground Church.
At least 16 other bishops have been regularized over the last six years.
The Vatican as well as ethnic minority leaders and global rights groups have urged Bangladesh’s interim government to add representatives from religious and ethnic minority groups to the Constitutional Reform Commission.
The government led by Nobel-laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, recently formed the nine-member commission to recommend changes to make the 1972 constitution more inclusive and democratic.
The reform was initiated after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country on Aug. 5 following a bloody public uprising against her despotic 15-year rule, marked by corruption and rights violations.
However, all the commission members are Bengali Muslims, including its lone woman, Professor Sumaiya Khair.
Archbishop Kevin Randall, the apostolic nuncio of the Vatican to Bangladesh, wrote to Yunus that the interim government should continue to represent all citizens of Bangladesh, not just the majority.
The commission is one of six commissions tasked to make reform proposals in the constitution, public administration, election, judiciary, police, and anti-corruption framework.