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P 011115Z DEC 06
FM AMCONSUL HONG KONG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9630
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HONG KONG 004610 
 
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2031 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL HK CH VT
SUBJECT: CHINA ORDAINS THIRD "ILLICIT" BISHOP OF THE YEAR; 
ORDINATION SEEN AS "PROVOCATIVE" 
 
 
HONG KONG 00004610  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: E/P Chief Laurent Charbonnet 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Monsignor Eugene Nugent, the papal 
representative in Hong Kong, told us on December 1 that the 
installation of Wang Renlei, the Vicar General of the Xuzhou 
Diocese in Jiangsu Province, as the auxiliary bishop of the 
diocese was "quite worrying" and "provocative."  The 
participation of two high-ranking religious affairs officials 
at Wang's installation ceremony signaled a "real snub" to the 
Vatican.  Cardinal Zen told the Consul General that the 
Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) had engaged in 
increasingly aggressive actions and that the PRC Government 
was failing to control it.  According to Nugent, the Vatican 
belatedly heard of Wang's ordination and did not have time to 
properly vet his candidacy.  Two Bishops from Hebei Province 
were deceived and taken from their home province to Xuzhou 
against their will; one escaped, while the other was forced 
to attend the ceremony.  Ironically, the Church likely would 
have approved Wang as a Bishop if given the time to vet him 
properly, said Nugent.  End Summary. 
 
Beijing Installs Third "Illicit" Bishop of the Year 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2. (C) Monsignor Eugene Nugent, the papal representative in 
Hong Kong, told us on December 1 that the installation of 
Wang Renlei, the Vicar General of the Xuzhou Diocese in 
Jiangsu Province, as the auxiliary bishop of the diocese was 
"quite worrying" because PRC authorities had assured the 
Vatican during Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli's June visit to 
Beijing that they would halt the illicit Bishop ordinations. 
The latest ordination, which lacked Holy See approval, was 
"very provocative" said Nugent, particularly since two 
high-ranking religious affairs officials, Director Ye Xiaowen 
of the State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA) and 
Vice Chairman Liu Bainian of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic 
Association (CCPA) also attended the ceremony.  According to 
Nugent, this latest ordination was a "real snub" to the 
Vatican, which he expected would release a statement after 
the Pope and the Vatican Secretary of State returned to Rome 
from their official visit to Turkey. 
 
¶3. (C) Nugent received news of the October 21 election (Wang 
was the sole candidate) in Xuzhou diocese via a third party 
on November 21.  Two days later, Nugent learned that the 
ordination ceremony would take place on November 30 -- not 
enough time for the Vatican to properly vet Wang's candidacy 
-- and Nugent said he was surprised there had been no 
attempts by anyone from the diocese to contact the Vatican 
earlier about the planned ordination ceremony.  Nugent, 
questioning the need for "such haste," said the ordination 
had "come out of the blue" and also observed that 92-year old 
Bishop Qian Yurong of Xuzhou was old but still in good 
health. 
 
Bishops Pressured to Attend Ceremony 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (C) Nugent emphasized that most Bishops and clergy are 
aware the Vatican disapproves of these illicit ordinations 
and many therefore do not willingly participate in the 
ceremonies, so religious officials often pressure clergy to 
attend.  For Wang's installation ceremony, it appears that 
two Bishops from Hebei Province were deceived in their home 
province and taken against their will to Xuzhou.  Li Liangui, 
Bishop of Cangshou (Xianxian) and Peter Feng Xinmao, Bishop 
of Hengshui, were told on November 29 by Religious Affairs 
Bureau (RAB) officials that they would be taken to check on 
some previously confiscated Church property in Tianjin, 
according to a November 29 "AsiaNews" report.  (Both Bishops 
belong to the official church, but also were approved by the 
Vatican.)  Instead of driving to Tianjin, however, the 
Bishops were taken to Xuzhou. 
 
¶5. (C) Nugent acknowledged that religious officials often 
pressured clergy, but said he had never heard of government 
officials resorting to "abduction."  The whole incident was 
"like something out of a movie."  Li was able to escape his 
minders and, according to a November 30 "AsiaNews" report, 
currently was in hiding.  While Feng was forced to attend the 
ceremony, he reportedly did not take part in the ritual.  At 
midnight, the night before the ceremony, Feng  had been able 
to call Nugent by telling the security guards that he wanted 
to call the Vicar General of his diocese, in order to 
reassure him of his whereabouts and well-being.  According to 
Feng, each of the Bishops was guarded by ten security 
 
HONG KONG 00004610  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
officers, who prevented them from speaking to anybody.  When 
asked whether Li might face some form of punishment for 
escaping, Nugent said that he wasn't worried about this, but 
noted that PRC officials might be "vindictive." 
 
Liu Bainian Denies Abduction Allegation 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) After the ceremony, Liu Bainian denied media reports 
that some bishops had been forced to attend the ordination. 
Liu told the "Union of Catholic News" (UCAN) that Bishop Wang 
personally had invited the Bishops who attended the ceremony. 
 Liu, responding to concerns that the Holy See had not been 
informed in a timely fashion of Wang's election as a bishop, 
also said, "the Vatican should have trust in the China Church 
-- that it would not approve a candidate that does not love 
the Church and the country." 
 
Zen Criticizes Episcopal Ordination 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Cardinal Joseph Zen told the Consul General on 
November 27 that he was very concerned about the current 
situation in China.  During the conversation (which occurred 
before Wang's ordination had taken place) Zen noted that the 
Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) had engaged in 
increasingly aggressive actions and that the PRC Government 
was failing to control it.  Separately, Zen said the Pope had 
agreed to his recommendation that the Vatican hold a strategy 
session in Rome regarding the Holy See's policy towards 
China. 
 
¶8. (C) After the ordination, Zen publicly criticized the 
Chinese religious officials and said that the latest 
ordination was even more serious than the first two.  Not 
only did the Chinese break their assurances to the Vatican 
delegation that they would halt illicit ordinations, but they 
had also used "threat, allurement, and deceit...(and) 
forceful abduction and kidnapping!" to coerce participation 
by the Bishops in the ceremony.  In his statement, Zen asked 
the Chinese to "start a substantial dialogue with the Holy 
See to find a way acceptable to both the State and the Holy 
See." 
 
Bishop Wang Renlei -- A "Nice Fellow" 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) Under normal circumstances, the Vatican takes several 
months to vet a candidate for Bishop; this usually involves 
communicating with people both inside and outside the diocese 
who are familiar with the candidate.  With only one week to 
gather information about Wang, Nugent said that he was still 
working on getting a more complete picture of Wang from 
fellow clergy.  According to one foreign priest/teacher, 
while at age 36 Wang was relatively young to be a Bishop, he 
nevertheless was a nice, spiritual, man of prayer who was 
committed to working for the good of the people.  So far, 
said Nugent, he had not found anything negative about Wang 
that would disqualify him from Vatican approval.  Despite 
this initial positive assessment, Nugent said that he found 
it strange that Wang had made no attempt to contact him or 
other Vatican officials regarding his impending installation 
as bishop, or to give the Vatican some warning of his 
election. 
 
¶10. (C) Wang was born in Weishan, Shandong Province, which is 
only 58 kilometers north of Xuzhou, where he now resides.  He 
studied at the Sheshan Regional Seminary in Shanghai 
(1989-1992) and was ordained a priest in 1996.  He also 
studied at the National Seminary in Beijing and graduated in 
¶1999. 
 
Why Use Wang's Installation to Snub the Vatican? 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶11. (C) Nugent said that he was not terribly surprised that 
PRC religious officials had chosen Wang's ordination as an 
opportunity to provoke the Holy See.  (Comment: The illicit 
ordination of Bishop Ma Yinglin of Kunming Diocese, Sichuan 
Province, had made more "sense" especially in light of Ma's 
close ties to the PRC Government and the likelihood that the 
Vatican would have rejected him as a candidate.  Wang, 
however, has no obvious marks against him and we are not 
aware of any ties to Chinese religious officials.  End 
Comment.)  Liu Bainian, said Nugent, also was a native of 
Shandong Province, traditionally considered a strong bastion 
 
HONG KONG 00004610  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
of patriots.  Nugent speculated that Liu wanted to make a 
symbolic point that a Bishop from his home province would be 
a patriotic Bishop. 
 
¶12. (C) Father Peter Barry, a Researcher at the Holy Spirit 
Study Center, opined to poloff on December 1 that the latest 
illicit ordination might have been a response by the PRC 
Government to Cardinal Zen's remarks in the November issue of 
the "Far Eastern Economic Review" (FEER).  Though Zen's 
overall prediction of where Asia was headed in the next ten 
years was quite positive, said Barry, he might have 
unintentionally upset PRC religious affairs officials with 
some of his comments.  During the interview, Zen predicted 
that democracy would take root in Hong Kong and China and 
relations between the Holy See and the PRC would be 
reconciled by 2016.  However, SARA and CCPA officials such as 
Ye and Liu, might have taken offense to Zen's remarks that 
the "illegal" ordinations of April and May were the final 
desperate acts of PRC religious affairs officials. 
 
¶13. (C) According to Barry, the participation of Ye and Liu 
in Wang's installation ceremony signaled a clear, political 
backdrop to this ceremony.  He speculated that there might be 
a struggle between two factions within the Government -- a 
conciliatory faction interested in reconciliation with the 
Vatican and a leftist faction led by the religious affairs 
officials opposed to a change in the status quo.  Wang's 
ceremony might also be viewed as a symbolic gesture by Ye and 
Liu to show the world that they were still in charge. 
Unfortunately, said Barry, these religious officials had 
shown that they were willing to use "outrageous" and 
"ridiculous" actions, such as kidnapping Bishops, in order to 
install a Bishop not approved by the Vatican.  It made China 
seem like the wild, wild West; a civilized country would not 
act in this way in the year 2006, just two years prior to 
hosting the Olympics, said Barry. 
 
Future Illicit Ordinations? 
--------------------------- 
 
¶14. (C) Nugent was aware of two other bishop ordinations, 
following their elections by their local diocese.  However, 
as the Vatican was notified in a timely manner, those 
investigations were currently underway; barring something 
negative coming up during the vetting process, Nugent 
expected these two bishops to be installed with both Holy See 
and PRC approval. 
Cunningham