Priests ordained in Inner Mongolia

More than 1,500 people attended a solemn Mass featuring the ordination of two new priests, presided by Catholic Bishop Mattia Du Jiang, only recently installed as Bishop of the diocese of Ba Meng in Inner Mongolia.

Local sources reported that during the April 25 ordination in the Cathedral many people had tears of joy in their eyes because the priests had waited so long to be ordained by their bishop.

Although Monsignor Mattia Du had been ordained a Bishop with the approval of the Vatican in 2004, he only took possession of his diocese on April 8 this year.

Thirty two diocesan priests from Ba Meng, Beijing, Bao Tou, Yin Chuan and other dioceses concelebrated at the Mass.

In his homily the Bishop urged the faithful to pray for the earthquake victims of Yu Shu and to give generously to help them, as requested by Pope Benedict XVI after the earthquake on April 12 and he gave concrete example. A collection of over 20 ,000 Yuan (about 3,000 euro), was handed to the Chinese Red Cross to assist the victims of the earthquake.