FRANK SESNO, CNN ANCHOR: At the Vatican today, 12 new bishops were ordained. The pope, Pope John Paul II, presided over the solemn ceremony. It came just hours after China's state-controlled Catholic Church installed five bishops of its own, a move seen as widening the split with the Vatican. CNN's Beijing bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon reports.</s>REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): The ordination of five new Chinese bishops was a ceremony full of Catholic ritual, but no one from the Vatican was invited, and the five men who received their golden staffs and special head dresses did not receive the blessing of the pope. International press was banned from the ceremony and police security was tight around the cathedral belonging to China's state- backed Catholic Church, which has no relations with the Vatican and forbids its members from contact with the pope. A spokesman from the Vatican expressed disappointment that the ceremony has thrown cold water on hopes that relations between Beijing and the Vatican were improving. Last year, Pope John Paul said he dreams of visiting China one day, but Beijing says it won't recognize the Vatican unless it severs ties with Taiwan and stops, quote, "interfering in China's affairs." China has nearly five million Catholics worshipping in official churches loyal to the Communist Party, but missionaries say millions more belong to underground churches loyal to the pope. According to the Vatican's news agency, Thursday's ceremony in Beijing was originally intended to ordain several more bishops, but nine refused because they didn't want to be in conflict with the pope. Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Beijing.
China's State-Backed Catholic Church Installs Five New Bishops, Defies Vatican