Chinese authorities proceeded with the illicit ordination of Bishop Joseph Guo Jincai was ordained bishop in Chengde on November 20, ignoring strong protests from the Vatican. Since 2006, no new Catholic bishops had been ordained in China without the quiet approval of the Holy See. By breaking from that pattern the government-back Catholic Patriotic Association re-asserted its claim to authority over the Catholic Church in China. Several bishops who are loyal to the Holy See were apparently forced to attend the episcopal ordination in Chengde. Cardinal Joseph Zen, who was in Rome for the consistory, said that he “would have...