It was shaping up to be a win in the Communist Party's quest to contain a longtime nemesis — the Roman Catholic Church. In July 2012, a priest named Thaddeus Ma Daqin was to be ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai.
The communist body that has governed the church for six decades had angered the Holy See by appointing bishops without Vatican approval. Known as the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, it was now about to install Ma, one of its own officials, as deputy in China's largest Catholic diocese.
"The anticipation was he would be a yes-man," said Jim Mulroney, a priest and editor of the Hong Kong-based Sunday Examiner, a Catholic newspaper.