Bishops' Release Sought Ahead of Vatican-China Deal Renewal

UCANews ^ | 6/24/22 | Staff

[marshmallow]

Two bishops have been under pressure and detention for their refusal to join the state-sanctioned church

Chinese Catholics are demanding that the Vatican make the release of two jailed bishops a condition for the renewal of the controversial Vatican-China agreement that expires in October, says a report.

The bishops are in jail after they were arrested for refusing to toe the official line of the communist regime and join the state-sanctioned church in China.

Catholics across China are demanding that the Vatican should “not just ask for the release” of the bishops but "should make it a pre-condition” for renewing the agreement, said a report in Bitter Winter, a magazine specializing in Chinese Catholicism, on June 22.

The magazine said it has sourced opinions of the clergy, religious and laypeople, who said they are respectful to the pope and the Vatican but still believe the Vatican has been “misled” by the Chinese regime over the deal.

The Vatican-China deal, whose provisions have not been made public, was first signed in 2018 for two years and was renewed for another two years in October 2020. It expires in October unless renewed by then.

Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu of Xinxiang Diocese was arrested in May 2021 and is reportedly detained in an unknown place.

The prelate was arrested a day after Chinese police arrested 10 priests and an unknown number of seminarians after shutting down a diocesan seminary set up in an abandoned factory building. The priests and seminarians were later released but the bishop remained in detention.

[ebb tide]

Bergoglio is the supreme narcissist.

He’ll never listen to any demands, let alone, pleas, from faithful Catholics in his secret, dirty dealings with the Chicoms.