VATICAN-Beijing ties are being tested after two bishops of the Chinese church were ordained without papal approval.
The appointments of Joseph Liu Xinhong of Anhui and Joseph Ma Yinglin of Kunming as bishops last May 3 and April 30, respectively, disappointed Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope excommunicated the two ordainees and the two bishops who ordained them.
In the Catholic Church, the Pope alone has the authority to appoint bishops as a sign of apostolic allegiance and unity. But in China, where religion is state-controlled, subservience to Rome is widely taken as religious imperialism.
“What happened was sad,” Fr. Bong Lo, a Chinese priest of the Archdiocese of Manila told the Varsitarian. “As Sino-Catholics, we desire to finally bring unity for our Chinese church.”
China has two Catholic churches: the patriotic Catholic Church and the Vatican-loyal underground church. The government can intervene in the patriotic church’s activities, while members of the underground church cannot profess their faith publicly. The official (Patriotic) Chinese church submits to the government’s one-child policy, which pressures women to undergo contraception, and abortion, practices which the Vatican condemns.
Joseph Cardinal Zen, head of the Hong Kong Catholic church, said the ordinations will further set back efforts to ease tensions between Beijing and the Holy See.
“Trying to force clergymen to carry out the ordination ceremony before the (Roman Catholic) Church’s approval would wreck ongoing Vatican-Beijing negotiations,” Zen told a Hong Kong radio station.
Chinese church authorities said they informed the Vatican beforehand of the planned ordinations, but the latter did not respond. Ma’s appointment was postponed due to his clerical inexperience and ties with the Communist regime, the Vatican said.
The ordinations violated Canon 1382 of the Church Canon Law, which prohibits bishops from ordaining anyone without the mandate of the Holy See. The penalty is automatic (upon violation of Canon) excommunication.
