SAIQI, China — A Chinese Catholic bishop at the center of a dispute between the Vatican and China said on Sunday that he would respect any deal worked out between the two powers. But he cautioned that the Chinese authorities still had a hard time accepting the idea that Catholics should not be completely under their control.

The bishop, Guo Xijin, 59, is one of at least two “underground” bishops — those recognized by the Roman Catholic Church but not by the Chinese authorities — who have been asked by the Vatican to step down in favor of Communist-approved bishops.

Bishop Guo has spent numerous stints in detention and currently lives under police surveillance.

Last year, a Vatican delegation visited Bishop Guo and asked him to serve under the government-appointed bishop, Zhan Silu, in this diocese of southeastern China. The Vatican had condemned Bishop Zhan’s installation as bishop because it had not been approved by Rome.

The concession would be part of a historic deal that Rome and Beijing have been negotiating; it could heal a nearly 70-year rift between the two sides and give the Vatican a say in who runs the church in China.