VATICAN CITY — Catholic clergy in China have named a new bishop for Beijing, reports said yesterday — the first appointment since Pope Benedict XVI sent a letter to Chinese Catholics urging them to unite under his authority.

The Vatican had no comment on the reports, which said Bishop Joseph Li Shan was selected by a group of Chinese priests, nuns, and lay people. While the pope did not name him, Bishop Li Shan was apparently on a list of names that the Vatican had indicated it would not object to, the Vatican-affiliated Asia News agency reported.

Still, the appointment contravenes the traditional practice in which the pope names bishops. Benedict did not explicitly insist on that right in his June 30 letter to the Catholic faithful in China, taking a more conciliatory approach by saying merely that the Vatican “would desire to be completely free to appoint bishops.” “I trust that an accord can be reached with the government,” he added.

The Vatican would like to have a formula similar to the one it has with Vietnam, another communist country, where the Vatican proposes a few names and the government selects one.

China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Communist Party took power. Worship is allowed only in the government-controlled churches, which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.

Millions of Chinese, however, belong to unofficial congregations that are not registered with the authorities.