ICC Note:
The vatican speaks out against the ordination, and forced support China’s state-backed pontiff.
11/18/2010 VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican warned Beijing on Thursday not to force Catholic bishops loyal to the pope to attend the ordination of a bishop who is a member of the state-backed church that does not recognize the pontiff.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Vatican was “disturbed” by reports that the government was compelling Catholic bishops to go to the ordination ceremony next week of Father Joseph Guo Jincai in Chengde.
“The Holy See would consider such actions as grave violations of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience,” Lombardi said in a statement.
Catholics in China are divided between one Church that recognizes the pope and his authority to name bishops and a state-backed “patriotic association” which names its own bishops.
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