Shanghai bishop stripped of title

China has revoked the title of a new Catholic bishop in Shanghai who outraged Chinese officials by immediately dropping out of a government agency which oversees the country’s officially sanctioned church, religious leaders have said.

The Rt Rev Ma Daqin, who was jointly named for the post in a rare consensus between Beijing and the Vatican, has been confined to a seminary since he announced his intention to drop out of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association in front of a congregation during his July 7 ordination as auxiliary bishop.