Drama in the Catholic Church! In yet another display of clashes between China and the Vatican, an excommunicated bishop, as well as two others with questionable standing, were allowed to participate in China's first two ordination ceremonies of 2012 without papal approval. The Vatican is not pleased. more ›

Xinhua photojournalist Yasser Zhang speaks to Father Zhang Fengming, a Catholic priest in a rural village in Shaanxi Province who is faced with a dwindling, ageing flock. more ›

Catholic news portal AsiaNews.it reports that the ordination of a Vatican-approved bishop, Father Peter Luo Xuegang (罗雪刚), will take place tomorrow in the diocese of Yibin in Sichuan province. But here's where it gets tricky -- while the consecrating bishop on paper is the 95-year-old Msgr. John Chen Shizhong, a bishop from the diocese who is in communion with the Vatican, China may want Paul Lei Shiyin, the recently installed bishop of Leshan who is now president of the Catholic Patriotic Association, to take part in the laying on of hands. The participation of Lei, who was excommunicated by the Holy See in July, could render the ordination of the new bishop "illegitimate" according to Vatican rules. more ›

American journalist Paul Mooney has written a most fascinating, must-read article on the current state of relations between China and the Vatican in the South China Morning Post. more ›

Eric Fish of Sinostand has a funny and oh-so-true piece on why the Roman Catholic Church and the Chinese Communist Party are really just estranged brothers in disguise. The two really have more in common than you think, so why aren't they better friends? more ›

Paul Lei Shiyin, the new bishop of Leshan installed by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association without papal approval, has been excommunicated by the Holy See. In a strongly worded statement, the Vatican said, "Rev. Lei Shiyin, ordained without the Papal mandate and hence illegitimately, has no authority to govern the diocesan Catholic community, and the Holy See does not recognize him. The effects of the sanction which he has incurred through violation of the . . . Code of Canon Law remain in place... An episcopal ordination without Papal mandate is directly opposed to the spiritual role of the Supreme Pontiff and damages the unity of the Church." more ›

For our Roman Catholic readers, a special mass is to be held tonight at the St Ignatius Cathedral to mark the liturgical feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The announcement from the Italian Cultural Institute:

The IIC Shanghai is glad to announce the celebration of the Holy Mass in Chinese language with the Holy Lesson in Italian language, which will be held on Wednesday 29th June 2011, at 19:00 at St.Ignatius Cathedral, XuJiahui. more ›

Pope Benedict offered special prayers for the Catholics in China who face severe constraints to practice their faith. He composed a prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan in Shanghai for the occasion and asked that Catholics all over the world observe May 24 as the "World Day of Prayer for the Church in China", an annual day of prayer observed every year since 2007. more ›

More good news for Sino-Vatican ties following the ordination of Bishop Paul Liang Jiansen? more ›

A new Catholic bishop approved by both the Vatican as well as the state-approved church has been consecrated in the city of Jiangmen, Guangdong Province. more ›

In his traditional Christmas Day "Urbi et Orbi" homily this year, Papa Ratzi aka Pope Benedict XVI prayed for Chinese Catholics with the following words: more ›

If we know one thing about China, it's that it likes to do things it's own way. It won't reign in a rogue tyrannical nation just because you ask, it will set up it's own peace prize if it doesn't agree with your choice, and it will go about ordaining it's own Catholic priests too - sorry, Vatican. more ›

As part of their continuing series on religion in China, NPR has a very insightful piece on the divide between the two types of Catholic churches found here - those that are sanctioned by the Communist government (even if the pope refuses to recognize them) and the "underground" ones still pledging their loyalty to the Vatican. Both are inching closer to reconciliation, but it is a painful and confusing process. For more on religion, they've also done pieces on the booming Christianity movement and Protestant churches in rural China. more ›

• Black and White Cat translates a collection of headlines from the earliest editions of Xinhua Daily, Jiangsu Province's oldest party newspaper. In its bid to oust the Kuomintang, the CCP positioned itself as a champion of democracy and demanded for change, human rights and general elections.
• Tao Wang of UBS explains to Thomas Crampton why he thinks the new wave of unemployment is unlikely to cause unrest in China.
• EastSouthWestNorth has a set of pictures of what is supposed to be Guangdong's most run-down school.

Shanghai Scrap brought us an interesting tidbit over the weekend on the results of the Pope's landmark letter to Chinese Catholics released a year ago on June 30, 2007. The Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN) reports that the Pope's call for reconciliation between "underground" and "open" Catholic communities has seen some positive results. UCAN cites open and underground priests engaging in dialogue with each other, and Shanghai Scrap's Adam Minter points out a significant development in Tianjin, where more underground Catholics are attending Masses in Xikai Cathedral, a cathedral where open-Church priests preside. Underground Tianjin Catholics previously refused to enter the cathedral and instead chose to pray at the Marian grotto outside. Minter regards the Tianjin situation as exemplary in explaining the misuse of the term "underground" Catholics:

the mere use of the term “underground” is misleading, as it suggests a community of believers who meet - and exist - in secret. But, in today’s China, nothing could be further from the truth... Just to be clear: the open Catholics pray inside the cathedral, the underground Catholics pray outside the cathedral...if Tianjin’s underground Catholics were trying to remain “underground,” they couldn’t have chosen a more public place to do it.

... and so says the — surprise, surprise — China Daily! This most unlikely piece of news comes from the nation's favourite English paper shortly after we heard that China Philharmonic's been performing for the Pope:

Evangelist Franklin Graham said in Beijing on Friday that he wants his organizations to become more involved in China. more ›

With all the bad press surrounding Steven Spielberg's Olympic boycott, Beijing seems to be scrambling to action to diffuse all the negative publicity by wooing a most unlikely target, the Pope. From Michael Sheridan of the Sunday Times (UK):

TEMPTED by the prize of a historic visit to China by Pope Benedict XVI, the nation’s leaders have authorised a renewed effort in confidential discussions with the Vatican to heal their rift and inaugurate diplomatic ties. more ›