A CHINESE bishop ordained without papal approval has been excommunicated by the Vatican for accepting his new post.
The Reverend Joseph Huang Bingzhang was ordained as bishop of the Diocese of Shantou on Thursday by China's state-run Catholic Church. He is the third bishop to be appointed without papal approval in recent months, putting further strain on already difficult relations between Beijing and the Holy See.
In a statement, the Vatican said that the Reverend Huang was ordained ''illicitly'' and that he had been asked repeatedly not to accept his new position because the district already had a bishop.
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''He lacks authority to govern the Catholic community of the diocese,'' the statement said. ''The Reverend Huang Bingzhang had been informed some time ago that he could not be approved by the Holy See as an episcopal candidate.''The Vatican also said that some bishops were forced to attend Mr Huang's unsanctioned ordination even after expressing their unwillingness to do so. The Vatican called their resistance ''meritorious before God''.
There was no comment from the Beijing government.
China and the Vatican have not had formal ties since 1951, two years after the communists came to power.
The official Chinese Catholic Patriotic Church has nearly 6 million adherents, but some experts say the number of Catholics practising in unofficial churches is twice that.
NEW YORK TIMES
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/vatican-ejects-chinese-bishop-20110717-1hk1s.html#ixzz1SQkMY7pw
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