BEIJING — A 54-year-old priest who studied in the United States was installed this week as a bishop in China, the first to take office after a landmark deal signed last year between the Vatican and Beijing.

According to Chinese media reports that were confirmed by the Vatican, Msgr. Antonio Yao Shun was installed on Monday as bishop of Jining in the northern Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia.

The ceremony in Jining seemed to signal that Beijing was willing to make compromises as part of the 2018 deal, which was signed last year to facilitate appointing new clergy.

Father Yao had been approved by the Vatican in 2010 to succeed an octogenarian bishop but Beijing had refused to approve him, even after the bishop died in 2017 at age 89.