China's official Catholic church has installed a bishop without Vatican approval - the second such move in three days - as the two sides seek to re-establish ties severed after communists took control of China in 1949.
The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association ordained Liu Xinhong as bishop at the St. Joseph's Church in the eastern province of Anhui.
On Sunday, China's state-sanctioned Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association ordained Ma Yinglin as a bishop in the southwestern province of Yunnan.
The installments come as China and the Holy See try to resume diplomatic relations.
Beijing cut ties with the Vatican in 1951 shortly after the Chinese Communist Party took power. Worship in mainland China is allowed only in government-controlled churches, but millions of Chinese Catholics belong to underground churches loyal to the Holy See.
However, the Vatican is allowed to operate in Hong Kong, a former British colony now ruled by China that enjoys religious freedom under its semiautonomous status.
Hong Kong's Cardinal Joseph Zen, who answers to the Holy See and not China's official Catholic church, on Tuesday called on the Vatican to halt talks with Beijing on resuming ties because of the ordainments on the mainland.
AP