TENSIONS BETWEEN the People’s Republic of China and the Catholic
Church notched up several degrees yesterday when the Holy See underlined
its refusal to recognise the newly ordained Bishop of Leshan, appointed
just last week.
The Vatican has declined to recognise Father Lei Shiyin for at least three fundamental reasons.
Firstly,
the ordination was prompted by Chinese state authorities and not by
Pope Benedict XVI.
Secondly, “Bishop” Shiyin is currently vice-chairman
of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the state body set up in
1951 by Chairman Mao Tse Tung as a means of controlling the Catholic
Church in China but not recognized by the Vatican.
Thirdly, the
Vatican argues there are “proven and very grave reasons” as to why
Father Shiyin should not be ordained a bishop.
In an unusually blunt
statement Monday, the Vatican spelt out its objections, commenting:
“Rev. Lei Shiyin, ordained without the papal mandate and therefore
illegitimately, has no authority to govern the diocesan Catholic
community, and the Holy See does not recognise him as the Bishop of the
diocese of Leshan.”
Writing on the website “Vatican Insider”,
Asian church analyst Gerard O’Connell last week claimed the Vatican’s
“proven and grave reasons” against the ordination concerned reports from
“reliable sources” that Father Shiyin had been in a relationship with a
woman, with whom he had fathered a child.
Father Shiyin is now almost certain to be excommunicated, under article 1382 of Canon Law.
The
fate of the seven bishops who participated in his ordination last week
is harder to predict, but they too risk excommunication.