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China ordains new Catholic bishop(UPI Top Stories Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Ignoring the Vatican's wishes, the state-controlled Catholic Church in China consecrated a new bishop in ceremonies on Sunday. The Vatican had called for a delay in the appointment of Father Ma Yingling as bishop of Kunming, over concern he lacks experience and is too closely aligned with China's Communist regime, the BBC reported. The request to postpone his ordination was made by the Vatican-appointed Roman Catholic Bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen, who has been trying to improve relations between Beijing and the Holy See. China has said it would like better relations with the Vatican but insists that the Holy See must first cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The two also disagree over the number of Catholics in China. Chinese authorities say the state-sanctioned church has about 4 million members while the Vatican puts the figure at 10 million. |