MODERN DAY CATHOLIC MARTYRS FOR CHRIST IN CHINA

Mgr Gao Kexian, martyred Bishop, killed by five years in prison by Bernardo Cervellera

The Press Office of the Holy See announced yesterday the death of Mgr Gao Kexian, Bishop of Yantai. Bishop Gao, who was in prison since October 199, died at the end of August.

Rome (AsiaNews) – Bishop John Gao Kexian, 76, a reserved and timid man, died in an unknown prison in northern China. His remains were sent to his relatives at the end of August without any explanations. He joins the ranks of the martyred who gave their lives for Christ in China.

12 September, 2004

VATICAN - CHINA

Mgr Gao Kexian, martyred Bishop, killed by five years in prison by Bernardo Cervellera

The Press Office of the Holy See announced yesterday the death of Mgr Gao Kexian, Bishop of Yantai. Bishop Gao, who was in prison since October 199, died at the end of August.

Little is known of this witness who lived underground for most of his life. Only now, after his death, has his ordination by the Vatican been made public. At the time of his arrest, news reports said that he was either a layman or at best a priest. This was done to avoid him any further legal persecution by China’s security apparatus. Just three years ago his status as a bishop in Shandong province was finally made public. In his 2002 China trip, US President George W. Bush urged Jiang Zemin to free him. Instead, Bishop Gao died in prison as did one of his colleagues, Bishop Joseph Fan Xueyan, who died in custody as a result of torture on April 13, 1992.

Bishop Gao was raised in the Catholic faith among underground Christians living in China’s largest Catholic community, in Hebei province. Today, there are an estimated 1.5 million Catholics in this province, most of them belonging to the underground Church, guilty in government eyes of exercising what in theory is a constitutionally-guaranteed right, namely the right to practice their religion without the regular and wearisome control of the security apparatus and the official Catholic Patriotic Association.

For decades Bishop Gao lived as an underground priest dodging arrest, frequently changing places. For some time he taught in one of Hebei’s rural underground seminaries where poor students and teachers meet unknown to the security apparatus surviving on the meagre charity provided by equally poor local Christians.

Gao Kexian was ordained bishop in 1993. For some time he worked in Hebei province. Eventually he was appointed as bishop to the neighboring diocese of Yantai in Shandong province, a region that is so poor that an increasing number of peasants are forced to leave for the cities in search of work. It was here, with the assistance of very few priests, that Bishop Gao was able to carry out his evangelisation work till October 1999. His refusal to join the breakaway, national Church under the Catholic Patriotic Association led to his arrest.

The Franciscan Order was in charge of the Diocese of Yantai from 1894 till 1949. In 1949 the Diocese had 12,000 faithful, a number that has risen to 30,000 today. Currently, three Shandong dioceses are without bishop: Yantai, Weihai, Heze.

http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=5048

5 January, 2006 CHINA - VATICAN

Mgr Han Dingxian, underground bishop of Hebei, is missing

This means there are now three “desaparecidos” bishops. And the eldest priest of Yongnian diocese was arrested in December.

Rome (AsiaNews) – Mgr Han Dingxian, unofficial bishop of Yongnian (Hebei), has disappeared. In 1999 he was arrested and kept in isolation in a government-owned hostel. He was not allowed to have any contact at all with his community or his relatives, but every so often some of them could catch a glimpse of him from the window. Now they have had no news of him for some time, nor have they been able to see him through the window panes.

Mgr Han Dingxian, 66 years, is one of the bishops about whom AsiaNews launched an awareness campaign last March. In the past, he spent more than 20 years in prison.

Mgr Han’s disappearance brings the number of missing bishops up to three, all from Hebei: Mgr James Su Zhimin, 72 years, Ordinary of the Diocese of Baoding, who disappeared in 1996; Mgr Francis An Shuxin, 54 years, auxiliary of Baoding, arrested in 1997 and missing since.

Despite pressure exerted by religious personalities and international politics, the Chinese government has never given any clue as to their plight. The news of the bishop’s disappearance was disseminated today by the Kung Foundation, which also reported more news: Fr Wang Wenzhi, 50 years, from the diocese of Mgr Han Dingxian, was arrested on 11 December in Fengfeng, near Handan (Hebei). Sources of AsiaNews have confirmed that he is being kept in isolation in a hotel and he is being subjected to brainwashing and political sessions to convince him to join the Patriotic Association.

Fr Wang is the oldest priest in Yongnian diocese, which has 30 priests in all. For several months now, to put a stop to possible rapprochement between Beijing and the Vatican, the Patriotic Association has launched a violent campaign to subjugate bishops, priests and the faithful and to force them to join the organization, often resorting to the threat of armed force.

http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=2467

31 January, 2005 CHINA – VATICAN

Unofficial Yantai Bishop Gao confirmed dead

Bishop Gao was in prison for five years. He was denied religious comforts and was buried alone without the presence of any faithful and relatives.

Rome (AsiaNews) – Mgr John Gao Kexian, unofficial Bishop of Yantai died in the evening of January 24 2005 in a hospital in the city of Bingzhou (Shandong). He had been in prison for the previous five years.

His body was cremated and buried the day following his death in the presence of police officers. No relative or faithful were allowed to attend the event. The Bishop died without any religious comforts and his body was not blessed.

Because of the news blackout surrounding his case and concerns about his health rumours about his death had already appeared in September 2004. The Vatican, which had received the news from a nun, had itself announced his passing on September 11, 2004. It is very likely that she had learnt about the Bishop’s rapidly failing health and had alerted the outside world.

This time, Bishop Gao’s death was confirmed by several sources in Shandong province. Relatives who wanted to visit him in hospital in Bingzhou found that he was already dead.

Police refused an autopsy and speedily proceeded to bury him.

The Bishops’ remains now lie in a cemetery on the outskirts of Gaomiaoli village, near Bingzhou. Bishop Gao was 81-year-old. As a seminary student he had already spent many years in a forced labour camp in Longzhen (Heilongjiang province). He was ordained in July 1983 and became bishop in October 1992. Whilst on a pastoral visit to some families the police arrested him and he has not been heard ever since.

When news first came about his death AsiaNews wondered what the probable cause was: torture, hardship, old age? Shandong authorities report that he died of illness but since the police took the body away and prevented any autopsy from being performed, it is still a legitimate question to ask what the cause Bishop Gao’s death was. The issue is important because Chinese authorities still detain incommunicado two other bishops: James Su Zhimin, Ordinary Bishop of Baoding (Hebei province) and Mgr Francis An Shuxin, his auxiliary. They, too, were abducted by the police in 1997 and 1996 respectively. Bishop Su was seen last November in a hospital in Baoding, but disappeared thereafter.

http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1473

14 September, 2004 EDITORIAL CHINA - VATICAN What caused Msgr Gao Kexian's death? by Bernardo Cervellera

China, a country that will host the 2008 Olympics, still has people who die in its prisons because of their faith. Last Saturday, the Vatican Press Office gave the news of the death of Msgr John Gao Kexian, underground bishop of Yantai, and condemned this "serious violation" of religious freedom. Msgr Gao, age 76, had been taken into police custody in October 1999. Since then, he had been imprisoned in a secret location in the north of China. His corpse was handed over to his relatives at the end of August, without any explanation. Not even a photo of him is to be found anywhere. AsiaNews asks one question: what caused Msgr Gao's death? Did he die of sickness? Did he die of hardships, given his life lived in poverty and on the run as an underground bishop? Did he die because of the exhausting interrogations to which Catholics are submitted to push them to join the Patriotic Association?

Or did he die from torture?

Fatal violence on the bodies of religious figures in China has been routine in China for at least 50 years. The last Catholic bishop to die in prison was Msgr Joseph Fan Xueyan of Baoding, in 1992, left dead on the steps of his home, wrapped in a plastic bag. His body showed signs of torture around the neck (perhaps as the result of a metal wire used to choke him) and various large bruises on his chest and his forehead. Last June, AsiaNews reported the death of Jiang Zongxiu, a woman of 34, who died in prison from the beatings she received on the day of her arrest. She had been imprisoned for having distributed Bibles in the province of Guizhou. The police informed Jiang's family, saying that she had died of a sudden illness, and handed over her remains. Her family found wounds and blood stains on her corpse.

Last February 6th, Chen Jingmao, the leader of the "South China Church", outlawed by the Chinese government, was beaten as punishment by prison guards. According to sources described as "informed", during the brutal assault, the guards would say "his doings -- bringing others to Christianity -- are a source of shame for the Communist Party". This 72-year-old Protestant leader was beaten by prison guards, who broke both his legs, for having converted 50 prisoners.

Torture and violence are also on record for Tibetan monks and nuns. According to Falun Gong, since 1999, at least 884 of their adherents have died in prison from torture, poisonings, beatings and "falls" from the top floors of police buildings.

Given these precedents, many Christians in China and around the world fear for the fate of two bishops from Baoding (Hebei), Msgr James Su Zhimin, ordinary, and Msgr Francis An Shuxin, auxiliary, who disappeared at the hands of police in 1997 and 1996 respectively. Since then, they have been untraceable. Last November, Msgr Su was spotted at the Baoding hospital, only to vanish once again.

In these past months, other Catholic bishops have been arrested. They did not undergo physical violence or torture, but were subjected to long hours of interrogation and attempts at brainwashing. According to Christian sources in China, they were freed and did not suffer fatal violence because they are well-known abroad and thanks also to the Vatican's call for their release. Msgr Wei Jingyi, bishop of Qiqihar and Msgr Jia Zhiguo, bishop of Zhengding, arrested in March and April and released after several weeks are well-known to international public opinion and various campaigns had been launched to call for their release.

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