BEIJING, May 3 (UPI) -- China's state-controlled Catholic Church has named a second person as bishop without the Vatican's approval, three days after similarly naming the first.
Liu Xinhong was consecrated Wednesday at a ceremony in Anhui province in eastern China, reported the BBC.
China's official Catholic Church does not recognize the Holy See's authority for appointing bishops.
Earlier this week, the Church consecrated Ma Yingling as a bishop in the southwestern province of Yunnan, ignoring the Vatican's request to delay the ceremony to give it time to assess the candidate.
"By appointing their own bishops hastily and illegally, they (the Patriotic Catholic Association) tried to impose their own selection on the Vatican," Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong's Roman Catholic Church told the BBC. "This shows disregard for the spirit of the negotiation and disrupts mutual trust."
Liu Bainian, a vice chairman of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, rejected suggestions that the appointments threaten China's relations with the Vatican.
