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A leading Chinese Catholic has defended independent selection and ordination of bishops as the only right path for the spreading of Gospel in China.

"The current prosperous development of the Chinese Catholic church owes totally to China's long-term practice of selecting and ordaining its own bishops and independently managing the churches," said Liu Bainian, vice president of the China Patriotic Catholic Association, during an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Tuesday.

 

"This is the arrangement of the Christ."

 

China now has a total of 5 million followers nationwide, in sharp comparison with 2.7 million in 1958, according to statistics released by the association.

 

"The development of the Chinese Catholic church in the past 20 years has greatly exceeded that of the 300 years before," said Liu.

 

In the history of the Catholic church, he said, a bishop can be selected by believers, appointed by an emperor and consecrated by the neighboring diocese.

 

"The practice for the pope to install a bishop started just about two centuries ago," he said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2006)