China's New Bishop May Mend Ties With Rome

Shanghai, China - Hundreds of Catholics packed Shanghai's cathedral Tuesday for the consecration of a new bishop who church leaders hope will help ease a rift with Rome.

Joseph Xing Wenzhi, 42, was made auxiliary bishop in a ceremony led by Shanghai Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, the representative of the government-backed church who is relinquishing many of his administrative duties.

China's officially atheistic communist government has no formal relations with Rome and rejects the pope's authority to pick bishops. However, both Rome and Beijing authorities have tacitly agreed to Xing's appointment, Jin said in an interview earlier this month.

Many Chinese Catholics reject the authority of Jin, 89, and others in the official Church, preferring to worship in underground congregations with their own clergy. They regard another elderly priest, Joseph Fan Zhongliang, 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.

Vatican spokesmen have not commented publicly 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 a 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 the eastern province of Shandong, Xing has years of experience as a church educator and has traveled extensively as part of the Chinese church's work to build ties abroad. He spent 2003-05 as a student in the United States.

Ties between the Vatican and Beijing have stabilized in recent years after bitter disputes over the consecration of priests by China and Rome's naming of people killed in Chinese anti-foreigner uprisings as saints.

Some Chinese Catholics say the government also has relaxed some restrictions since the death of Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict XVI has tried to nurture that momentum since taking office in April. In remarks aimed at China, he invited countries without official ties to the Vatican to work on forming them.

However, priests in the underground church are routinely detained and harassed, and Beijing has shown no sign of relinquishing its control. Beijing also demands the Vatican end relations with Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its territory.