UNDERGROUND ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP ARRESTED IN CHINA

Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. Bishop Jia Zhi Guo ÙZÖÎ‡øÖ÷½Ì, the underground Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Zheng Ding in Hebei Province was arrested by three officials of the Religious Bureau on January 5, 2005 at approximately 5:30 in the afternoon (Beijing time) in a church located in Wu Qiu village. According to a report that we received, Bishop Jia could have been detained somewhere in Shijiazhung. In fact, Bishop Jia was also arrested on December 14 together with 11 priests. They were all released shortly after few hours.

Bishop Jia is 69 years old and was ordained a bishop in 1980. He was previously in jail for approximately 20 years and has been under strict surveillance for many years. He takes care of approximately 100 handicapped orphans in his house. This is the fifth time that Bishop Jia was arrested since January 2004.

Bishop Jia Zhiguo released, seminarians avoid arrest

10 January, 2005
CHINA – VATICAN

http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=2302

The underground seminary is constantly on the move to avoid police detection. This is religious freedom Chinese-style.

Rome (AsiaNews) – Chinese authorities released Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo. However, the police tried to raid an underground seminary in Baoding but seminarians were warned in time and able to get away scot-free, sources told AsiaNews.

According to the Kung Foundation, the police had arrested the 69-year-old clandestine prelate on January 5 in a church in Wu Qiu (Hebei) only to release him on the 8..

Local Catholics told AsiaNews that he was arrested to prevent him from celebrating Epiphany with his faithful.

“It’s always the same story,” they said. “We are used to it by now. Just before an important feast—Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption—the Bishop is taken into custody and disappears for a few days. This is religious freedom Chinese-style for you.”

The Chinese government guarantees freedom of worship but only for some religions in places and by clergy registered with Religious Affairs Office. For Catholics, this means being subject to the Patriotic Association whose goal is to set up a Catholic Church separate from Rome.

In Hebei, the province with the largest concentration of Catholics, many refuse to submit to government’s control and prefer to meet in private homes.

Before Christmas, the police threatened to detain anyone who celebrated the holiday outside established structures.

The underground seminary in Baoding, with its dozens of theology students, was shut down in 1996 after a police raid led to the arrest of its rector and the detention of Bishop Francis An Shuxin. At that time, students were sent home.

Since then the seminary has been moving from place to place to avoid further arrests. However, Bishop An Shuxin is still detained but no one knows where.

Chinese Catholics fear split 17 Mar 2000
"In 1957, China forced mainland Catholics to renounce the Pope's authority and register with a Communist-controlled "patriotic" church, which now has four million members. Estimates put the number of underground Catholics at between five and 10 million. A deal is believed to be imminent, despite a recent snub from Beijing, which ordained five "patriotic" bishops in January. The right to nominate bishops, a cornerstone of papal authority, is at the heart of secret talks between Rome and Beijing."

Why China snubbed the Vatican 15 Jan 2001
"After encouraging hopes of a reconciliation with Rome, China dashed them to the ground last week when bishops were ordained in Beijing without the Pope’s consent."

The pope and his minions were furious with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre for the very same act. But China - communist China - the atheistic China which views Catholicism as superstition, got a pass. They got a pass, while a saintly man seeking only to preserve Roman Catholic Sacred Dogma and Traditions was verbally stoned and vilified in the halls of the Vatican.

The bishops appointed by Archbishop Lefebvre are loyal to the Holy See.
The bishops appointed by the communists are loyal to Beijing.

After spending ten days in China, and brushing aside the blatant question of heresy by communist Chinese priests, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, serves as the Pope's diplomatic envoy, chose to say nothing about the police state tactics employed against underground Roman Catholics, arrogantly and blindly declared there isn't a communist catholic church and the underground Roman Catholic Church. There is, he says, only 'one' Roman Catholic Church in China.

The Vatican's iron fist was used on a good man, while true enemies of the Church are allowed to abuse, distort, and ridicule the Holy See.

Cardinal declares China has "one Church with two faces" 30 Oct 2003

Another Test of Faith for China's Hidden Bishop. 20 Dec 2004
China's authorities still hold religion in contempt and suspect that direct communion with the Pope would turn the country's Catholics into a fifth column dedicated to overthrowing the regime.

The persecution of those loyal to the Holy See continues, while the Holy See sees no fault in allowing heretic communist 'priests' from saying the NO Mass in Rome and in the united States.

The irony is how the Vatican capriciously and publicly implements its double standard of denying recognition of the SSPX - loyal to the pope - and its friendship toward those who have declared they're loyalty is not to the pope, but to an atheistic force determined to crush Christianity.

There are 10 million Chinese Catholics who personally know about the absence of encouragement from the pope, as well as his pathetic failure to condemn China's anti-Catholic abuses.

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