Bishop Ma has been under house arrest since he publicly resigned from the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association at his ordination in July and said he would devote himself full-time to his pastoral ministry.

At a two-day meeting in Beijing, the patriotic association and the Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China — neither of which are recognised by the Vatican — decided to revoke their original approval of Bishop Ma.

They called on Shanghai diocese to "deal with Ma in a serious manner".

Among the six "charges" laid against the bishop, they accused him of deliberately preventing an illegitimate bishop and two other participating bishops from laying hands on his head and forbidding them from receiving Communion.

They also charged him with not publicly distinguishing whether he is coadjutor or auxiliary bishop, a title given by the Pope, and that the oath was incomplete as a result of deliberate damage to the sound system, sources told UCA News.

In addition, they blamed him for the absence of many diocesan priests and nuns at the ordination and determined the declaration he made in his thanksgiving speech would have a damaging influence on others.

The secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-fai, who is a native of Hong Kong, said: "This is a clear case of abuse of authority."

"This so-called bishops' conference has never been recognised by the Holy See. No conference in the world has the power to appoint or remove a bishop, least of all this so-called conference, which is not recognised by the Pope," he said.

"Anyone involved in this act will have to explain why they have decided to cause such harm to the Church and the communion of the Church, both in China and in the world."

Sources:

UCA News

AsiaNews

Image: UCA News

Local Church sources said Bishop Ma of Shanghai was taken away by several unidentified persons shortly after his ordination last Saturday and is now at a diocesan seminary in Shenshan, on the outskirts of Shanghai.

His absence from a scheduled Sunday Mass the following day caused grief among parishioners, with Father Joseph Gu Zhangjun visibly upset as he presided in his stead.

Sources cited by UCANews said it was widely understood that authorities were displeased by Bishop Ma's speech during his ordination, in which he said he would step down from the government-sanctioned local CPA and give up his membership in the national body to devote himself entirely to his ministry.

Priests and nuns of the Shanghai diocese had received a text message purportedly from Bishop Ma, saying he felt "mentally and physically exhausted" after his ordination and "need a break".

But Or Yan-yan, an officer with the Justice and Peace Commission in Hong Kong, said there were serious doubts about the authenticity of the message.

"It makes no sense for him to have rushed to a retreat without presiding over his first Mass, which was scheduled," she said.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong joined a protest rally organised by the commission in front of the Central Government's liaison office in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile two government-sanctioned Church organisations announced an investigation into Bishop Ma's ordination.

The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Bishops' Conferences of the Catholic Church in China said the ordination "allegedly violated seriously the BCCCC's regulations with regard to bishops' election and ordination".

A Church source added that the bishops who participated in the ordination have also been included in the investigation.

"Five participating bishops have been summoned to Beijing to give an account of it," the source said.

Source:

UCANews

Image: AsiaNews