China ordains new Vatican-approved bishop: reports
BEIJING (AFP) — China's official Catholic church has installed a new Vatican-approved bishop, the third in a month, state media and a Rome-based religious news agency reported on Saturday.
Joseph Li Jing, 40, was ordained as a bishop of the diocese of Ningxia in northern China on Friday, according to the China Daily newspaper and AsiaNews, a news portal reporting on Catholicism in the region.
The ordination took place at Yinchuan Cathedral in the Muslim-dominated Ningxia region before a 2,000-strong congregation, after a two-week delay due to earlier government intervention, according to AsiaNews.
"The government had previously stopped the ceremony for an 'unspecified reason'," said the Vatican-backed news agency.
Although the Holy See had approved Li's name three years ago, he was only elected by his diocese last year, it said.
And the election was sanctioned only last month by the state-approved Chinese Catholic Bishops College, the China Daily reported.
Li became the third Vatican-approved bishop within a month, after Joseph Gan Junqiu was installed bishop of Guangzhou in southern China and Francis Lu Shouwang became the bishop of central Yichang.
Both 42-year-old Gan's and 41-year-old Lu's ordinations had also received the blessing of the Pope.
The Holy See has long been at odds with China's communist-run church over the appointment of bishops, but in recent months Beijing has appeared willing to appoint church leaders that have the blessing of the Pope.
The situation has evolved since the Vatican has worked to re-establish its relations with China, where Catholicism has boomed in recent decades.
China severed its ties with the Vatican in 1951 in anger at the Holy See's diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.
In 1957, China set up the Patriotic Association, which formally oversees the country's officially registered Catholics.
The association estimates there are up to five-million followers of the government-led church.
However up to an estimated 10 million "underground" Chinese Catholics pledge allegiance to the pope, worship in unofficial churches and are often subject to police and government harassment.
