China's state-controlled Catholic church wants to ordain at least 40
bishops "without delay", its vice president said Friday, in a move
likely to further irritate ties with the Vatican.
Liu Bainian,
deputy head of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, confirmed an
official Xinhua news agency report that said more than 40 of the
country's 97 dioceses were without a bishop.
The report said
leaders of China's Catholic church had agreed at a recent meeting that
they would "strive to select and ordain bishops at these dioceses
without delay".
Liu told AFP that China's existing bishops would
"help various areas to select their own bishops. It's the best
opportunity to spread the Gospel in China."
The Vatican and China
have not had formal diplomatic ties since 1951.
Beijing insists it has
the right to ordain its own bishops, defying the Holy See, which says
ordinations can only go ahead with the pope's blessing.
Last
November, China angered the Vatican when it ordained a bishop for the
northern city of Chengde without the Holy See's approval.
Another
ordination in the central province of Hubei was postponed earlier this
month, although Liu said Friday it was still "under examination."
In
May, the pope himself called on Catholics across the world to pray that
Chinese bishops refuse to separate from Rome, despite what he called
"pressure" from communist authorities.
The Vatican and China cut
ties when the Holy See angered Mao Zedong's Communist government by
recognising the Nationalist Chinese regime in Taiwan as the legitimate
government of China.
The atmosphere worsened when in 1957 China set up its own Catholic Church administered by the atheist Communist government.
The
5.7 million Catholics in China are caught between staying loyal to the
ruling Communist Party in Beijing and showing allegiance to the pope as
part of an "underground" Church not recognised by the authorities.