BEIJING (AP)— China's government-backed Catholic church elected new leaders on Thursday, including a prelate unrecognized by the Vatican to head its bishops' council, in a move likely to worsen often uneasy relations with the Holy See.

Ties between China and the Vatican already were strained because of a dispute over the Nov. 20 ordination of the Rev. Joseph Guo Jincai as a bishop without papal approval. The Vatican says only it has the right to name bishops, and the question of their appointment has been the main stumbling block in resuming relations with the government in Beijing.

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