Nine, all from ethnic minorities, were ordained by Ma Yinglin, Kunming’s illegitimate bishop. Mgr Wu Junwei, bishop of Yuncheng (Shanxi), ordained Fr Han Bo in Jinzhong Cathedral. Mgr He Zeqing, bishop of Wanzhou, ordained Fr Peng Yueyu of Chongqing.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – As the world prayed for the Church in China, local Catholics celebrated the ordination of 11 new priests on the feast day of Mary Help of Christians, which coincided with the Day of Prayer for the Church in China established by Benedict XVI in 2007.
Nine of the eleven new priests were ordained by an illegitimate bishop, Mgr Ma Yinglin of Kunming diocese. This is the second time that he ordains priests.
Faith Press today published the list of new consecrated clergymen. Mgr Wu Junwei, bishop of Yuncheng (Shanxi), ordained Fr Han Bo at Jinzhong Cathedral. Dozens of priests concelebrated the service. Fr Francis Li, from Hong Kong, who is related to the new priest, was also present.
Mgr He Zeqing, bishop of Wanzhou in southwest China, ordained Fr Peng Yueyu of Chongqing. More than 30 priests from Nanchong, Chengdu, Leshan, Yibin, Pingliang, Nanchang, Wanzhou, and Chongqing were present at this ceremony.
The nine priests ordained by Ma Yingling hail from the dioceses of Dali and Kunming, and belong to China's ethnic minorities. They were ordained at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Kaiyuan, Honghe Prefecture.
Fr Ma Yongping, an ethnic Tibetan, comes from Dali, whilst Fr Mao Qiaoshun is an ethnic Jingpo. Fathers Xiong Zhenglin, Tao Youde, Deng Jinmin, Tao Guangrong and Yang Weiming, all ethnic Miao, come from Kunming. The last two, Fathers He Yingping and Bi Hezhong, come from the same diocese, and are ethnic Yi.
Mgr Ma Yinglin heads the Council of Chinese Bishops and was ordained without a papal mandate in 2006.
This is the second time he ordains new priests. The first time was in Dali in March 2012, involving six priests, also from ethnic minorities.