China on Sunday refuted Vatican's criticism on its ordination of an assistant bishop, saying that the latter's accusation is "unreasonable".

The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association last Thursday ordained Wang Renlei, bishop coadjutor of the Xuzhou diocese in the eastern province of Jiangsu. The ordination was criticized by the Vatican as "unlawful".

A spokesperson of the State Administration of Religious Affairs said that China and the Vatican have no official ties, neither have the two reached any tacit understanding or agreements on the ordination of bishops and the Vatican has never recognized the Chinese Catholic Bishops College.

The spokesperson said under such situation, China, as requested by the Chinese Catholic Church, had informed the Vatican in advance of the selection and ordination, "which showed great sincerity".

"Given the status quo of the China-Vatican relations and the fact that the Chinese Catholic Bishops College has conducted assessments and the Xuzhou diocese has completed the selection and been prepared for the ordination, Vatican's requests of stopping and postponing the ordination is unreasonable," the spokesperson said.

"Its accusation after the ordination also makes no sense," the spokesperson said.

Bishop of the Xuzhou diocese Qian Yurong is now 94 years old. The spokesperson said Qian had expressed hope that the selection of bishop coadjutor should be conducted as soon as possible.

On Oct. 21, priest Wang Renlei was nominated as bishop coadjutor by the Catholic priests and believers in the Xuzhou diocese after democratic election following the Catholic tradition and relevant rules of the Chinese Catholic Bishops College.

The spokesperson said the Chinese Catholic Bishops College has examined thoroughly Wang's qualification and believed that he is a man of pious faith, moral integrity and outstanding capability who has rich working experience and is a correct nominee for bishop.

China now has 97 dioceses, but more than 40 of them do not have bishops and most bishops are very old. "The churches could not exist without bishops," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said over the past five decades, Chinese Catholic churches, out of the needs of their own survival and development, have selected and ordained more than 170 bishops.

Such moves fulfilled with the wishes of China's Catholic clergy and believers and also met the "urgent need" of China's Catholic churches to manage church affairs and spread Catholicism, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the Chinese government respects and supports Chinese Catholic churches' choices.

"If the Vatican really cares about the cause of China's Catholic churches, there should, naturally, be understanding and support (from it)," the spokesperson said.

Official statistics show that there are more than 5 million Catholic believers in China. The figure was 2.7 million half a century ago.

The spokesperson said the Chinese government has always been "positive" in improving relations with the Vatican and is ready to have "constructive" dialogue with the Vatican on issues including the ordination of bishops.

"We hope the Vatican will stop interfering into China's internal affairs and show goodwill to improve ties with concrete actions," the spokesperson said.

On Thursday, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu also called for the Vatican to "understand" the ordination of bishops by Chinese church and see it from a positive way.

Since last April, the Chinese Catholic Church has also ordained the bishops of Suzhou, Kunming, Anhui and Liaoning after informing the Vatican via private or personal channels in advance.

Source: Xinhua