China’s Catholics are divided among those who attend government-approved churches and underground churches that are loyal only to the Vatican.

For decades, many Chinese Catholics have risked arrest and persecution by worshiping in the underground churches led by bishops appointed secretly by popes. China’s Communist government has erected a parallel structure: a state-approved, state-controlled Catholic church. For years, dating back three papacies, the Vatican has sought to unify the two communities.

Traveling with the pope in Vilnius, Lithuania, a Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, told reporters that the aim of the accord is “allowing the faithful to have bishops who are in communion with Rome but at the same time recognized by Chinese authorities.”

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said that the pope had committed “to make concrete fraternal gestures of reconciliation,” and suggested that the truce would leave the church better able to function in China.

Each side had claimed an absolute right to choose bishops and control the church in China.

The Vatican’s initial statements did not release many details of the accord. But for months, the two sides were discussing a resolution under which the Vatican would formally acknowledge the government-approved bishops while the pope would retain the right to approve future appointments.

Reached in Beijing, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, a lead negotiator for the Vatican, said the agreement provided for “the intervention of the Holy Father for sure” in the selection of bishops. But when pressed, he would not say whether that meant a papal veto over appointments made by the Chinese government. He said only that “the Holy Father gets to say something about the appointment of bishops.”

The Chinese government did not clarify the issue either. China’s foreign ministry issued a two-sentence statement confirming that a “temporary agreement” on the appointment of bishops had been signed.