Father Anthony Li Hui is ordained as coadjutor bishop of Pingliang diocese in China’s northwestern Gansu province on July 28. (Photo:www.chinacatholic.cn)
Chinese Catholics witnessed the consecration of the fifth bishop under a deal that China's communist government agreed with the Vatican three years ago.
Father Anthony Li Hui was ordained as the coadjutor bishop of Pingliang diocese at Gansu province in northwestern China on July 28, approved by both the state and the Church.
The Vatican News said Pope Francis made the nomination on 11 January 2021.
The consecration ceremony took place at the cathedral of Pingliang presided by Bishop Joseph Ma Yinglin of Kunming, president of China's state-sanctioned Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC). Bishop Nicolas Han Jide of Pingliang and Bishop Joseph Guo Jincai of Chengde, BCCCC’s vice-president were concelebrants. Bishop Joseph Han Zhihai of Lanzhou, as well as some 200 Catholics including 30 priests, 20 nuns and representatives from the BCCCC, and Gansu province joined the ceremony, according to the BCCCC report on its website. Representatives of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), the state-run organization that oversees China's Catholics, also attended the function, it said. Father Yang Yu, deputy secretary-general of the BCCCC, read out the approval letter during the ceremony, the report said.