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Chinese Catholics get new bishop

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Xing Wenzhi, 42, right, is accompanied by Shanghai Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, left, during Xing's consecration ceremony at St. Ignatius Cathedral in Shanghai yesterday. PHOTO: AP

Hundreds of Catholics packed Shanghai's cathedral yesterday for the consecration of a new bishop who leaders of the official government-backed church hope will help ease a rift with Rome.

Joseph Xing Wenzhi (邢文之), 42, was made auxiliary bishop in a ceremony led by Shanghai Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian (金魯賢), the representative of the government church who at age 89 is giving up many of his administrative duties.

China's government has no formal relations with Rome and rejects the pope's authority to pick bishops.

However, Jin said in an interview earlier this month that both Rome and Beijing authorities have tacitly agreed to Xing's appointment as his top aid and successor.

Many Chinese Catholics reject the authority of Jin and others in the official Church, preferring to worship in underground congregations with their own clergy. They regard another elderly priest, Joseph Fan Zhongliang (范忠良), as Shanghai's true bishop.

Fan, who reportedly suffers from Alzheimer's disease, has been under virtual house arrest for the past five years.

Jin, however, claims the Vatican has indicated it would not recognize a successor to Fan in the underground church.

"Rome said that after the death of the underground church bishop, no more division," Jin said in the interview

Vatican spokesmen have not commented on Xing's appointment, although experts say such an arrangement was likely.

While Rome insists only it has the right to appoint bishops, it has quietly endorsed an unknown number of clerics appointed by the official Chinese church.

Xing's consecration ceremony appeared to strive for a balance between the sides. He pledged in his vows to "loyally serve" the pope in Rome and promised to subordinate himself to papal authority.

However, he pledged also to work for "social stability" and build a "basically well-off society," key Communist Party buzzwords in its broad appeal for public support.

Dozens of nuns and clergymen from the Shanghai diocese attended the ceremony dressed in colorful vestments. Parishioners were watched outside by uniformed police and plainclothes security officers speaking into two-way radios.

Born into a devoutly Catholic family in Shandong Province, Xing has years of experience as a church educator and has traveled extensively abroad as part of the Chinese church's work to build ties abroad. He spent the last two years as a student in the US.
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