Guangzhou (AsiaNews) – The Catholic Church, even in China is “one holy Catholic and apostolic”.  It was underlined by the new archbishop of Guangzhou, Msgr. Joseph Gan Junqiu, and minutes before he gave his parting blessing to the faithful who had gathered in Sacred Heart Cathedral to participate in his ordination.  Local sources who took part in the celebrations described the event to AsiaNews.

The solemn mass took place this morning in the “House of Stone”, the great cathedral that lies in the centre of the city.  Press and faithful from other diocese were not allowed attend due to “lack of space”.  About 900 people participated, each given an admission pass with the number of the pew assigned to them as well as their position within the same pew.  

A” massive” police presence as well as members of the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics [PA, a government organism not recognised by the Holy See, which interferes in the life of the church and tries to impose its own bishops on diocese without Vatican consensus ed], were there, “to keep an eye on all of the people gathered in the square for the duration of the mass”.

Despite this climate, Msgr. Gan took advantage of the moment in which the congregation exchanged the sign of peace to come down from the altar, leave the cathedral and make his way to a room close by the Church, where other Catholics were following the mass via a giant screen. There he embraced the only foreigners who were present in a sign of communion with the Universal Church.

Catholics from the Archdiocese of Guangzhou place a lot of hope in their new pastor.  They tell AsiaNews, that he “has an open heart and mind and is held in high esteem by many people.  He does not love compromise, but he knows how to find balance there where it is often difficult to put tolerance into practise. All of this costs him dearly and shows his deep love for his people and for the Church, which is universal. We have been without a pastor for far too long and this grace from God has made us very, very happy”.

Msgr. Gan was elected archbishop in November 2006.  Immediately after his election, he received Holy See approval and communicated this to the local faithful. Thanks to the obstructionism of the PA who did not view this public declaration of loyalty to the Pope kindly, his ordination was blocked until today.