BEIJING — In a sign of rising tensions between the Vatican and China, authorities in recent days have ordained one Catholic bishop without Rome’s consent and detained another after he made a dramatic break with the country’s Communist-run religious hierarchy.

On Friday, government officials organized the consecration of the Rev. Joseph Yue Fusheng as bishop in the northern city of Harbin. Bishop Yue’s nomination had not been approved by the Vatican, and reports said bishops loyal to the Vatican were forced to participate — a common practice meant to give Beijing-appointed bishops legitimacy in the eyes of local believers. The Vatican immediately excommunicated him.

Then, on Saturday in Shanghai, the most important city for China’s Catholics, the Rev. Thaddeus Ma Daqin, a man widely seen as acceptable to both Beijing and Rome, was consecrated as auxiliary bishop, which would put him in line to succeed Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, 95, who had been approved by both Beijing and Rome.

But Bishop Ma stunned hundreds of worshipers in the city’s Cathedral of St. Ignatius by announcing that he would no longer work for the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, the government-run body that oversees Catholics in China.