Three Bishops Are Members of Chinese National People’s Congress

There were three bishops among the delegates of the 13th Chinese National People's Congress that on 11 March took the decision to allow an infinite term of office for the Chinese president, according to AsiaNews (March 13).

The first was Joseph Huang Bingzhang, the government-appointed bishop of Shantou who was officially excommunicated in 2011. Nevertheless, the Vatican tried twice to remove the legitimate bishop of Shantou, Monsignor Zhuang Jianjian, in order to replace him with Huang.

The second was the illegitimately ordained Bishop Guo Jincai of Chengde. The Vatican said at that time that a Chengde diocese did not exist. Guo is the secretary general of the government-controlled bishops’ conference.

The third is bishop Fang Jianping. He was illegitimately ordained and, although he did not show any remorse, later pardoned by the Vatican. After the pardon he participated in three illicit episcopal ordinations. Last week Fang said that “citizenship should come before a religion and belief.”

Picture: Xi Jinping, © kremlin.ru, CC BY, #newsDzmvhemxxf