Pope Francis Recognizes Chinese Bishops Ordained Without Papal Approval

America’s Gerrard O’Connell reports that the Vatican announced on Saturday that Pope Francis will “readmit to full ecclesial communion” the eight remaining bishops who were ordained in China without the official pontifical mandate. There are an estimated 12 million Catholics in mainland China, and around half of them are part of the unrecognized, “underground” church community. O’Connell writes, “Underground communities – bishops, priests, women religious and lay people – refuse to be part of the Patriotic Association that the Chinese authorities set up in 1957 to control the Catholic church in China.”

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