Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy See issued the following statement in Italian with regard to the ordination as bishop of Giovanni Wang Renlei, on Thursday, 30 November in Xuzhou Jiangsu province, China.
1) The Holy Father received the news with profound sadness, because the ordination was conferred without the necessary papal mandate, that is, disregarding Canon Law with regard to the appointment of Bishops (cfr. canon 377, § 1, Code of Canon Law).
2) The ordination in Xuzhou is the latest in a series of illegal ordinations which has tormented the Catholic Church in China in recent decades, creating division in diocesan communities and tormenting the minds of many ecclesiastics and faithful. This series of extremely serious acts which offend the religious sentiment of every Catholic in China and in the rest of the world, is the fruit and consequence of a vision of the Church contrary to Catholic doctrine which overturns the fundamental principles of the Church’s hierarchical structure. In fact as the Second Vatican Council affirms "one is constituted a member of the episcopal body in virtue of sacramental consecration and hierarchical communion with the head and members of the body" (Lumen gentium, n. 22).
3) The Holy See, learning at the last minute of the planned ordination in the diocese of Xuzhou, did not fail to take the steps possible at such short notice, to prevent an action which would lacerate ecclesial communion. In fact unlawful ordination is a grave act for which Canon Law foresees severe sanctions for those who confer it and those who receive it, when it is an act performed in full freedom (cfr. Canon 1382, Code of Canon Law).
4) It is consoling to see that despite past and present difficulties, almost all the bishops, priests, religious and lay Catholics in China, aware that they are living members of the universal Church, have maintained profound communion of faith and life with the Successor of Peter and the Catholic communities all over the world.
5) The Holy See is aware of the spiritual drama and suffering of those ecclesiastics - consecrating bishops and those ordained - forced to be an active part in unlawful ordinations of bishops, going against Catholic tradition to which at heart they desire to be faithful. The Holy See also shares the inner suffering of those Catholics - priests, men and women religious, laity - obliged to accept a bishop who they know is not in full hierarchical communion with the Head of the College of Bishops or with the Catholics bishops of the world .
6) With regard to ordination of bishops, the Holy See cannot accept the fact of being faced with the fait accompli. The Holy See therefore deplores the manner of the ordination of the priest Wang Renlei, in Xuzhou, and hopes that similar incidents will not be repeated in the future. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 2/12/2006; Righe 38; Parole 510)
