VATICAN CITY — The Vatican lashed out at Beijing Thursday after China's state-controlled church ordained two bishops without papal consent, calling the move "a great wound to the unity of the church."

Pope Benedict's first major political clash since his election as pontiff a year ago dimmed hopes for any re-establishment soon of official ties between the Holy See and Beijing that ended after communists took control in 1949.

The two newly ordained bishops were automatically excommunicated for defying the pope as were the two bishops who ordained them in separate ceremonies since Sunday, according to a provision of church law cited by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.