Catholic Bishop Ordained In China Without Papal Approval
Government-backed Catholic church in China has ordained on Saturday a bishop who did not have the papal approval, in spite of the Vatican’s objections and comments of the papal authorities, who qualified the act as “shameful” and “illegitimate.”
Guo Jincai was ordained at the Pingquan Church in Chengde in a ceremony that was protected by a strong security presence, dozens of police officers blocking the building and denying the entrance to the press.
It remains unknown for the moment whether bishops loyal to the pope were forced by the government to attend the ceremony.
AsiaNews, a Vatican-related news agency, reported on Friday that three bishops were pressured to participate in the ceremony, and that they were not heard from again after they were told to celebrate the ordination.
The ordination of a bishop without papal approval, the first since 2006, threatens to shake the relations between China and the Vatican, especially since Vatican warned that the relations would have to suffer if bishops were forced to attend such events.
China, whose regime shares a Communist-atheist ideology, has asked the Catholic priests to cut their ties with the Vatican since 1951, and has allowed worship only in the state-controlled churches.
Since Pope Benedict XVI relations have improved, and even ordinations were made with Vatican’s approval.
Guo Jincai, however, did not have such approval, probably because of his position as deputy secretary of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the state-backed organization that rules over the catholic churches in China.
The conflict seems to be a little puzzling since a dozen bishops have been ordained this year with apparent consensus between China and Vatican.
The vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association said that in his opinion the pope, who loves China, knew about the need of a bishop in China and that only a few people in Vatican oppose the improvement of relations between China and Vatican.
Forty more bishops are expected to be elected in China for dioceses that need them and the Chinese catholic hope they will have papal endorsement.
It is estimated that there are some 60 million Chinese Catholic faithful loyal to the pope at the present time. Vatican is making remarkable efforts to ensure the freedom of religion for the Christians in this country, and has faced difficulties such as this on many occasions.
