VATICAN CITY, May 4: Pope Benedict said on Thursday China’s appointment of two Catholic bishops without his blessing was a ‘grave violation of religious freedom’ as a standoff with Beijing over control of church posts escalated.

The bishops were consecrated this week despite Vatican opposition in what was seen as a major setback for relations between the Holy See and China, which had appeared to be improving in recent years.

“The Holy Father learned the news with deep displeasure,” the Vatican said in an unusually strongly worded statement.

It said the Vatican had information from China that bishops and priests there had come under ‘strong pressure and threats’ to take part ‘contrary to their conscience’ in the ordinations, which it branded as ‘illegitimate’.

“The Holy See reiterates the need to respect the freedom of the Church and the autonomy of its institutions from any external interference,” it said.

The statement noted that Church law prescribes automatic excommunication for the bishop consecrating the new prelate and the priest who agrees to be made a bishop without Vatican approval, meaning all four men would be punished.

But when asked if they were now shut out of the Church, Navarro-Valls said: “That is something that we will think (about) afterwards, not at this moment. We still don’t have all the information.”

He did not elaborate, but in Catholic teaching, someone who does not freely choose a certain course of action might not be fully responsible for it.—Reuters