Chinese Patriotic Association to ordain bishop without consulting with Holy See

Not new, of course, but flies in the face of recent movements and expectations

The Chinese Patriotic Association is about to explode a huge diplomatic bomb, that risks jeopardizing initial traces of dialogue between China and the Vatican.

On Sunday, April 30 in Kunming (Yunnan), the Patriotic Association (P.A.) – and in particular its vice-president, layman Anthony Liu Bainian – wants at all costs to ordain a priest as bishop without the Holy See’s permission.  Over the last two years, Beijing and the Vatican had arrived at an agreement which left it to Rome to indicate candidates for the episcopacy.  Accordingly, auxiliary bishops of Shanghai, Xian, Wanxian and the ordinary of Suzhou were ordained.  This agreement had put to the side the P.A., which for decades had held the reigns of ordinations, weakening its power over the official Church.  This time however, the Patriotic Association is not standing by and has decided to have Father Ma Yinglin ordained as Bishop of Kunming (capital of Yunnan).