New Chinese bishop, approved by Vatican, defies state control
July 10, 2012: A new Chinese bishop, who underlined his loyalty to the Holy See during
his ordination, has been reportedly “resting” at a seminary after he briefly disappeared
following the ceremony.
Bishop Thaddeus Ma Dagin was ordained on July 7 as
an auxiliary bishop of Shanghai. The new bishop emphasized his ties to Rome, making
the ceremony a stark contrast to the one a day earlier, in which Bishop Joseph Yue
Fusheng had been ordained in defiance of the Holy See.
Bishop Ma, who had
received the Pope’s approval for the ordination, resigned from the government-backed
Patriotic Association. During the ceremony he did not allow a government-backed bishop,
who had been ordained without Vatican approval and thus excommunicated, to join in
the imposition of hands.
The ordination of Bishop Ma received scant attention
from the state-controlled media, which had given heavy coverage to the illicit ordination
in Harbin the previous day. Shortly after the ceremony, Bishop Ma dropped from view,
raising some concerns among faithful Catholics. But he was reportedly to be resting
at a seminary in Sheshan.