Posted on 07/06/2005 10:01:32 AM PDT by Our_Man_In_Gough_Island
Beijing (AsiaNews) -- Monsignor Julius Jia Zhiguo, age 70, underground Bishop of Zhengding (Hebei, northern China), was arrested outside his home yesterday at 3:30 p.m. (local time). News of his arrest came from the Kung Foundation. Bishop Jia was taken away by two men to an unknown destination.
Government officials had warned the churchman in advance of the arrest and had ordered him to tell people that he was being taken away for medical tests. Msgr Jia is currently not ill, nor is he in need of any medical treatment.
Msgr Jia has been a bishop since 1980 and has already spent 20 years in prison. His is one of the most vivacious dioceses in Hebei, the area with the highest concentration of Catholics, some 1.5 million. He lives almost constantly under house arrest. Not being recognized by the government, he is technically not allowed to exercise his ministry. For this reason, prior to important religious celebrations (Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, the Feast of the Assumption), he is taken into custody and forced to undergo indoctrination sessions, to prevent celebrations and gatherings by underground Christians. At other times, such as important Party meetings or visits from foreign heads of state and other prominent figures, he is segregated to some secret location. In 1999, to thwart his activities in evangelization, the police tried to close down an orphanage for abandoned and handicapped children. Authorities, however, had to backtrack on their intent, due to international pressure. The bishop shares his home with some 100 disabled children whom he supports at his own expense.
This is Bishop Jia's 6th arrest since January 2004. His first detention dates back to April 5, 2004, when a government vehicle appeared outside his home and took him way without any explanation. On that occasion, the Vatican protested with a statement by the Holy See Press Office Director, Joaquin Navarro Valls, who said that Msgr Jiulius Jia Zhiguo's arrest was "not admissible in a lawful state which claims to guarantee religious freedom and to respect and preserve human rights." The Bishop was then taken into custody from June 13 to 18 of the same year. He was later arrested by police on three other occasions, in September, December and January 2005, when he was locked up for 3 days in Shijiazhuang (Hebei).
These repeated arrests and other forms of harassment are an attempt to convince Bishop Jia to adhere to the Patriotic Association, an organ of the Chinese Communist Party which seeks to control the official Catholic Church. One of its openly-admitted goals is to create a Church independent from the Holy See and the pope.
The next thing we are likely to hear is that the UN has elected China to head the human rights violations group to bring judgement against the US.
Excuse my ignorance of Catholic doctrine but won't that create a Schism? Which is grounds for Excommunication?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schism
The open and blatant fear that the Chinese government has against the freedom to worship God without government oversight speaks volumes. What are they so afraid of? They say..anarchy. They believe people would follow the pope's leadership before their own government. And the pope leads people to do what??? Follow the 10 commandments; like Do not kill unborn babies. Chilling how Satan works.
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
If the Chicoms want to spread Christianity, all they need to do is persecute the church. If they want to supress Christianity all they need to do is what Europe and now the US is doing which is to ignore the Church.
Who do the Chinese leaders think they are? They are acting like the Caesars at the time of the Persecutions.
The Roman Catholic Church already has an "above ground" practicing faithful in China, but they all claim to denounce the primacy of the Pope. I'm sure a large percentage do that in public, but not in their hearts, which is why those Catholics are very close the the heart of Rome. On the other hand, the "underground" Catholics believe in their hearts is would be heresy to denounce the pope for any reason.
It won't create a schism. The Roman Catholic Church remains the Church. The State sanctioned branch is not the Catholic Church. It is the Patriotic Catholic Church.
That is why our Cardinal to China is not named. He would be arrested.
What a shame that the USA won't arrest a few of our Bishops?
They are nothing more than the pimps for pedophiles.
Nero probably said things like that, too, when he rounded Christians up.
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