A bishop consecrated without papal approval. Valid?

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This story here says that Father Paul Lei was concecrated without Papal Approval in China.

If he was a valid priest, is he a valid bishop since the bishops ordained him? Does he need papal approval for this to be valid?

Thank you.
 
JD27076 said:
This story here says that Father Paul Lei was concecrated without Papal Approval in China.

If he was a valid priest, is he a valid bishop since the bishops ordained him? Does he need papal approval for this to be valid?

Thank you.
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Well im thinking that if the Vatican has condemned it saying this Bishop has no right to govern the diocese, then it has no right to do so. I wouldn’t be sure if he was a “valid bishop” because the article mentions little about this being “valid” or not. Though if he has no right to govern that diocese, and has no particular territory assigned to him, and the Vatican does not approve his ordination, then he probably isn’t a valid Bishop. But since im not sure, maybe someone else could address the question better.
 
JD27076 said:
This story here says that Father Paul Lei was concecrated without Papal Approval in China.

If he was a valid priest, is he a valid bishop since the bishops ordained him? Does he need papal approval for this to be valid?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
No, he is a valid bishop!
But let’s not believe one cent of what comes from inside China for it is not certain…
 
Unfortunately, the consecration of the new bishop is valid, but illicit. The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association does have apostolic succession, despite not being in communion with Rome.

I say “unfortunately” because there is a real risk of schism, which the Vatican has been trying to avoid. It has been walking a tightrope of supporting the “underground” Catholics in China, while trying to coax the bishops, priests and worshipers of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association back into communion with Rome.

The results of coaxing has been mixed. Developments looked very positive for awhile, but the recent unauthorized consecrations of bishops despite official Vatican disapproval have been setbacks to healing the split.
 
Pfaffenhoffen said:
No, he is a valid bishop!
But let’s not believe one cent of what comes from inside China for it is not certain…
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Yeah! Those crazy commies! Just kidding. But in all seriousness this person is right, nothing coming out of China is true. It’s all just propaganda. Don’t worry though, their economy will fail in ten years
 
China’s not exactly on speaking terms with Rome right now, due to all sorts of things like that. More or less there are two groups who claim to be the Catholic Church there right now. The Chinese government reserves the right to appoint all bishops, and the ones they have approved and appointed make up their own church, which isn’t in communion with the Papacy. The actual Catholic church (one holy, catholic, apostolic et al) is underground and works without the government’s approval.
 
The_Holy_War_11 said:
Yeah! Those crazy commies! Just kidding. But in all seriousness this person is right, nothing coming out of China is true. It’s all just propaganda. Don’t worry though, their economy will fail in ten years
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Well it is a double sword.
They export to us but we may export to them. And they are in more numbers than us.
 
JD27076 said:
This story here says that Father Paul Lei was concecrated without Papal Approval in China.

If he was a valid priest, is he a valid bishop since the bishops ordained him? Does he need papal approval for this to be valid?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
Valid, but illicit. It’s a serious offence, so serious that both the consecrating Bishop and the one who receives the illegal ordination are automatically excommunicated.
 
porthos11 said:
Valid, but illicit. It’s a serious offence, so serious that both the consecrating Bishop and the one who receives the illegal ordination are automatically excommunicated.
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Yes, valid but illicit.

How much blame they bear however may be up for debate. This is likely not some situation where a valid bishop just decided to consecrate a priest and they both went along with it. The CPCA has a history of forceful consecrations, so in all likelihood neither the bishop nor the priest had any real choice in the matter.

The CPCA is really the worst thing that can happen because it is nearly de facto a separate Church. You could argue that it would be a better situation if the Church was outright banned (like in former communist countries) and underground.
 
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