Vatican Reaction to Chinese Government's Illicit Ordination of Bishops

Vatican, May. 04 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has released a scorching criticism of the illicit ordination of two bishops for the government-approved "official" Church in China.

The statement charges that the government forced other Catholics to participate in the ceremonies, in a "grave violation of religious freedom." And it warned that the bishops ordained without the approval of the Holy See, and those who ordained them, are subject to excommunication.

The strong statement released on May 4 by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls expressed the "profound displeasure" of Pope Benedict XVI at the two ordinations: of Bishop Ma Yinglin in Kunming on April 30 and Liu Xinhong in Wuhu on May 3.

The unauthorized episcopal ordinations, Navarro-Valls continued, constitute "a grave wound to the unity of the Church, for which severe canonical sanctions, as it is known, are foreseen." He cited #1382 of the Code of Canon Law. That canon stipulates excommunication as the penalty for any bishop who participates in an episcopal ordination without Vatican approval. However, the Vatican statement goes on to suggest that some participants in the two recent ordinations may have been acting under duress. "According to the information received," Navarro-Valls said, "bishops and priests have been subjected to- on the part of external entities to the Church-- strong pressures and to threats, so that they would take part in the episcopal ordinations."

Some clerics resisted this intimidation campaign, the Vatican reported, while others saw no alternative but to "submit with great interior suffering." By forcing bishops and priests to engage in an action "contrary to their conscience," the Vatican said, the Chinese government had committed a severe offense against religious freedom.

The AsiaNews service has noted reports from Chinese Catholics that the Catholic Patriotic Association has plans to consecrate 20 more bishops in similar illicit ceremonies. "If the news is true that other episcopal ordinations are to take place in the same manner," the Vatican statement warns, the "unacceptable acts of violence" seen in the past week must not be repeated.

"The Holy See follows with attention the troubled path of the Catholic Church in China," Navarro-Valls said. He added that Vatican officials had hoped that "similar deplorable episodes by now would belong to the past."

Source: Catholic World News

The only thing that I can imagine the Chinese government hopes to gain from this is to mislead Chinese Catholics. However, somehow I imagine that they are fairly well informed just through word of mouth. This is all just supposition on my part though.