Monsignor Paul He Zeqing, 37, was ordained auxiliary bishop of Wanxian on Wednesday, at a ceremony attended by 81 priests and more than 1,000 members of the faithful.
The new bishop told AsiaNews: «I wish to live my spiritual life with greater depth, and I will endure any hardship for the Church, even if I am young.»
Before the ceremony, the diocese’s ordinary, Bishop Joseph Xu Zhixuan, had informed priests and nuns that the ordination would be taking place with Vatican approval.
Monsignor He is the third bishop to have been ordained this year in what appears to be a policy accepted by China and the Vatican: The candidate is designated by the Holy See and the government endorses the decision, according to AsiaNews.
According to AsiaNews sources, the government-sanctioned Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics is not at all satisfied with this policy, seeing it as a threat to its power over the Church.
Four Chinese bishops invited to the underway Synod of Bishops at the Vatican were barred from traveling to Rome.
