Hong Kong cardinal hits out at China

Hong Kong, Feb 10: Cardinal Joseph Zen, the top Catholic official on Chinese soil, lashed out at Beijing, saying the ordinations last year of three bishops without Vatican approval were illegitimate.

''These three illegitimate ordinations ... are acts of war against the church,'' Zen told the BBC after his latest trip to the Vatican.

''So how can you say that we opt for confrontation? They are waging a war, they want to destroy the church,'' said Zen, the head of Hong Kong's Catholic dioceses and a Vatican adviser on Chinese affairs.

Zen told the BBC Beijing's refusal to recognise the Vatican's authority had overturned two decades of compromise efforts.

A battle between Beijing and the Vatican over control of church posts flared as China's state-backed Catholic church installed bishops without papal blessing last year.

Until then, bishops were appointed after unofficial consultations with Rome.

Last month, China's state-backed Church welcomed an olive branch extended by the Vatican, which had issued a statement calling for ''respectful and constructive dialogue'' to normalise ties.

There are about 10 million or more Catholics in China, with about a third belonging to an ''underground'' church that has been loyal to the Vatican through decades of harsh repression under the Communist Party after it won power in 1949.

Reuters