Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - On Saturday 11 September the Holy See announced that during the month of August the Chinese authorities arrested several members of the local Catholic clergy and laity: “this is a serious violation of the fundamental human right of religious freedom”, the Holy See spokesman said.
In the first week of August police arrested Father Huo Junlong, vicar general of the diocese of Baoding, Hebei province, 7 other priests and two seminarians. Two of the priests, Father Paul An Jianzhao and Fr John Baptist Zhang Zhenquan, were sentenced to a period of hard labour for re-education. The others are said to be still in police custody in Quyang, in Baoding, except for three who were not of that diocese.
The Holy See has been informed that altogether 23 members of the clergy of Baoding diocese are detained or deprived of their freedom. The 23 include Bishop James Su Zhimin and his auxiliary Bishop Francesco Aa Shuxin, who disappeared respectively in September 1997 and in March 1996 and were detained without a trial in a secret place.
The priest administrator of the archdiocese of Fuzhou was also arrested with 2 other priests and one seminarian. They are thought to be still detained.
The Holy See has no idea of the reasons for these repressive measures. If these latest reports prove to be true this would be yet another serious violation of freedom of religion, which is a fundamental right of every human person.
The Holy See demands respect for this right, sanctioned by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and it hopes that the above mentioned persons will be promptly given their freedom, as justice requires, including their freedom to fulfil their pastoral duties in the respective Catholic communities.
The Holy See has also been informed of the death in prison of Bishop John Gao Kexian, Bishop of Yantai, Shandong province, who was 76. The police returned the body of the dead bishop to his family. Bishop Gao had been in prison since the late 1990s and nothing had been heard of him for a long time.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 11/9/2004 lines 31 words 353)
