Free Republic

Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. ¡ª Further to our press release of March 30 regarding the arrest of Father ZHAO KeXun Úw¿Ë„× of Xuanhua Ðû»¯ diocese in Heibei ºÓ±±, we now report that Bishop YAO Liang Ò¦Á¼, the auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Xiwanzi Î÷ž³×Ó in Hebei ºÓ±±, was arrested on March 31, 2005. He is in his early eighties. Before his arrest Bishop YAO had been under mounting pressure from the Chinese authority to sever ties with the Pope and join the official Catholic Church (the Patriotic Association). However, the bishop refused to do so. The faithful in Xiwanzi diocese...

LISBON, PORTUGAL - Sister Lucia Marto, the last of three children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in a series of 1917 apparitions in the town of Fatima, has died, Portuguese media reported. She was 97. Sister Lucia, a Roman Catholic nun, had been ill for the past three months and died Sunday at the Convent of Carmelitas in Coimbra, 120 miles north of Lisbon, TSF radio reported, citing family sources. Lucia and two of her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco, said in 1917 that the Virgin Mary had been appearing to them once a month and predicting...

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...

Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. Bishop Jia Zhi Guo ÙZÖ·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...