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The Roman Catholic Church holds that a bishop's consecration is valid if the Sacrament of Holy Orders is validly administered with the intention of doing what the Church does by ordination and according to a valid sacramental form, and if the consecrating bishop's orders are valid, regardless of whether the rite takes place within or outside of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, Roman Catholics recognize the validity of the episcopacy of Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East and Old Catholic bishops, but the situation is less clear regarding Independent Catholic bishops (see Episcopi Vagantes ). The , but also of all other Christian Churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodoxy , and the Assyrian Church Of The East . The Eastern Orthodox position on Anglican orders (in the hypothesis of Anglican bishops joining the Orthodox Church individually or as a body) is a grey area, involving disagreements among national churches, theologians and bishops. Because of changes in the Ordinal (the rites of Holy Orders) under King Edward VI , the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize Anglican Holy Orders as valid, but the latter are recognized (and participated in) by Old Catholics, whose Holy Orders are considered valid by Rome. Lutheran and other episcopally ordered Protestant successions are not recognized by Roman Catholics. The Anglican Church does not recognise the orders of non-episcopal denominations. More than 91% of the world's more than 4,000 Western bishops alive today trace their episcopal lineage back to a 15th Century bishop Cardinal Scipione Rebiba . In the early 18th century, Pope Benedict XIII , whose orders were descended from Rebiba, personally consecrated at least 139 bishops for various important European sees, including German , French , English and New World bishops. These bishops in turn consecrated bishops almost exclusively for their respective countries, effectively causing other episcopal lines to die out. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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