China's state-sanctioned Catholic Church yesterday consecrated three bishops and two auxiliary bishops in defiance of the Pope before a congregation of 400 parishioners huddled in overcoats in an unheated Beijing church on the coldest day of the winter.
The frigid air in the stone-flagged Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception accurately reflected the state of relations between China and the Vatican over the ordinations, apparently deliberately timed to coincide with Pope John Paul's consecration of 12 new bishops in Rome later yesterday.
The Pope appoints all bishops in the Catholic Church worldwide, but Beijing sees that as an infringement of its sovereignty and only allows Catholics to worship in state-approved churches run by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
Plainclothes police and officials stopped some correspondents from entering the cathedral, which stands on the site of the home of the Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci.
Those of us who got inside were warned by a priest not to take notes. Five rows of seats for "foreign guests" remained empty as diplomats boycotted the service, the biggest-ever consecration of Catholic bishops in Beijing under communist rule.
Six existing bishops in purple skull caps, 47 priests and 24 nuns paraded across the snow-covered courtyard into the tiny Romanesque cathedral for the early-morning ceremony, which followed Roman Catholic practice almost to the letter.
The five new prelates, three of them under 40, prostrated themselves before the altar beneath a large portrait of the Blessed Virgin and were pronounced bishops by Bishop Liu Yuanren of Nanjing, the head of China's official national bishops' conference, who laid his hands on their heads at the climax of the two-hour ceremony.
An announcer said that the ordinations were valid and legal, and each bishop took an oath in which he declared:
"I will lead priests, monks and nuns to observe China's constitution and safeguard social stability and unity and make a contribution to socialist material and ethical civilisations."
After they were each given white mitres with red lining and gilded staffs, the new bishops mingled briefly with the parishioners who crowded forward to kiss their rings.
The congregation included officials of the Communist Party "United Front" which is responsible for religious affairs.
For such a joyous occasion in the Catholic Church, the atmosphere was strangely muted, partly because of the freezing temperatures, but also perhaps because some of the clergy present felt uneasy.
The Vatican Fides agency quoted a priest from the Beijing diocese as saying the move was resented as "a purely political gesture by the government".
The Vatican regards the consecration of bishops not approved by Rome as "illegitimate" but not "invalid" if the apostolic line linking the ordaining bishop to Rome is unbroken, as was apparently the case yesterday.
Bishop Fang, speaking on behalf of the new bishops, called for the spread of Catholic doctrine in China and urged the congregation to pray for the Pope, a practice approved by the authorities for the past decade.
In such consecrations, Chinese bishops are also asked if they will obey the Pope and reply that they will, but only in matters of faith and morals, a Catholic Church source explained. Pictures of Pope John Paul were on sale in a souvenir stall in the cathedral grounds.
Bishop Fu Tieshan of Beijing in a sermon welcomed officials of the Communist Party central committee. He told the congregation that in 20 years of China's opening-up policy the Catholic Church had made significant hard-won gains and that the 21st century would be a "golden age" for the church in China.
The new bishops, approved by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, are Bishop Jin Daoyuan (73), of Shanxi province; Bishop Fang Jianping (36), of Hebei province; Bishop Lu Xingping (35), of Nanjing; Auxiliary Bishop Su Changshan (73), of Baoding; and Auxiliary Bishop Zhan Silu (39), of Mindong in Fujian province. China's decision to go ahead in the face of Vatican denunciations is a major setback to secret talks aimed at establishing diplomatic relations between the Vatican and China.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman reiterated yesterday that Beijing wanted to develop relations with the Vatican but on two conditions: that the Vatican cut its diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognise the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of all China, and that the Vatican agree not to interfere in China's internal affairs, even in religious matters.
The Vatican missionary news agency Fides said China's Catholic Church wanted to ordain even more bishops, but nine candidates had refused because of the "clear competition" with the Holy See.
China's officially sponsored Catholic Church has about 70 bishops and four million members. Vatican sources claim eight million Chinese are loyal to the Pope and worship in secret.
"A group of patriotic clerics has complained to the Ministry of Religious Affairs about the decision to ordain the bishops without the Vatican's consent `because it puts the Chinese church in a dangerous position of schism'," Fides said.
Jude Webber reports from Vatican City: Pope John Paul ordained 12 new bishops yesterday, but made no mention of the Chinese ordinations during the ceremony.
The new bishops are being sent as papal nuncios, or envoys, to Bolivia, Panama, Honduras, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and to posts in Peru, Angola, the US, Moldova, the Caucasus and Hungary. One was given a post at the Vatican's economic prefecture. The Pope also wished happy Christmas to the Orthodox Churches, which celebrate Christmas Day today.