THE upcoming consecration of Father Yue Fusheng as a bishop in China without the consent of the Vatican has earned the anger of the Holy See as it warned yesterday that he would be excommunicated along with any bishop taking part in the ceremony.A report by Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples as saying in a statement that the installation of Father Fusheng, which is expected to take place in Harbin tomorrow, “does not have the approval of the Pope” and is therefore “illegitimate.”
The Vatican said this was “a religious not a political issue” and reminded China that Pope Benedict XVI had written a letter in 2007 saying that “the nomination of bishops by the Pope is the guarantee of the unity of the Church.”
The Catholic news agency, AsiaNews, said six bishops who acknowledge Rome’s authority will be forced to assist at the ceremony in Harbin cathedral.
A deputy bishop, Ma Daxin, is due to be ordained the following day but that ceremony is taking place with the Vatican’s approval, AsiaNews said.
A spokesman for the Chinese Bureau for Religious Affairs called the Vatican’s stance “peremptory and shocking.”
“China has a clear and unchanged attitude which is positive and open to the Vatican,” he said, adding that China would however “without a shadow of doubt” continue ordinations by the officially-sanctioned church.
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