Hong Kong, China - A Chinese bishop approved by the Vatican but not by China's official state-backed Catholic church has defied authorities and officiated at a religious ceremony, a Hong Kong newspaper reported on Monday.
The row over Wu Qinjing's appearance highlighted the current friction between the Holy See and Beijing over the appointment of bishops, a key sticking point in negotiations over the normalization of relations which were severed in the early 1950s.
Wu appeared at Zhouzhi cathedral in the northern province of Shaanxi on Saturday despite official warnings that his secret October elevation, made public only last Monday, was illegal and that he could not work as a bishop, the South China Morning Post said on Monday.
"It first came as a suggestion, then a requirement, and an order. It is a final warning," the paper quoted a Catholic source as saying.
"Bishop Wu would like to give the government time to acknowledge his legality within the needed process, but at the same time he does not want to compromise his religious belief."
China has some 10 million Catholics, but they are split between an underground church loyal to the Holy See, and the official church, whose members lack formal ties to the Vatican.
The paper said Wu appeared in priest's vestments, not bishop's, but he was wearing a red biretta, the stiff square cap worn by clergy, and a ring.
Hopes for rapprochement have been complicated in recent weeks by Beijing's appointment of three bishops without the Pope's blessing -- the heart of the row over who rules China's divided Catholic Church.