China defends ordination of Catholic bishops
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-07 08:32
China on Saturday defended the ordination of Catholic bishops by Chinese
believers while lashing out at Vatican, saying the latter's criticism on China
in this regard "makes no sense."
"The Chinese government had recently informed the Vatican about ordaining
bishops in some Chinese dioceses but received no straightforward responses from
the latter," said a spokesman for the State Administration of Religious Affairs.
"On the contrary, the Vatican made unfounded charges after the successful
ordination, a move that ran against the remarks of the Vatican hoping to improve
its relationship with China," he noted.
On Thursday, the Vatican's spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls accused China of
ordaining two Catholic bishops in the country and threatened to punish the
bishops ordained and the believers who participated in the process.
"The remark by Navarro-Valls makes no sense," the Chinese spokesman said,
noting that the selection and ordination of bishops by the Catholic churches in
China had lasted for half a century.
"The selection and ordination of bishops in China are a need of Chinese
Catholic churches to conduct normal church activities," he said.
China now has 97 dioceses, but more than 40 of them do not have bishops. In
addition, most bishops are old. "The churches could not exist without bishops,"
the spokesman said.
The development of Catholicism in China called for the self-selection and
ordination of bishops, he said, citing an incident in 1958. In that year, a list
of bishop nominees from some Chinese dioceses was submitted to the Vatican,
which not only rejected the list but also threatened to mete out "extraordinary
punishment."
"The move deeply hurt Chinese believers and forced the Chinese Catholic
churches to set off for a road of selecting and ordaining their own bishops,"
the Chinese spokesman said.
|