Rome (Fides Service) - The Pope’s suffering unites all Catholics in China, those of the official Church and those of the underground Church. The bulletin of the Official Church is giving regular reports on the Pope’s health and the prayers being offered for him world wide.
In the meantime according to Fides sources in mainland China, underground Catholics, members of the Focolari Movement in Shanghai especially, deeply devoted to the Pope and who pray for him always, used SMS messages, e-mail and radio messages to spread a campaign of prayers for the Pope: “We share the Pope’s suffering, we are close to him. Many of our members are elderly Catholics, many are invalids and we are all in spiritual communion with the Holy Father as he carries his cross” sources told Fides.
Meanwhile Chinese speaking Catholics in various parts of the world are praying for the Pope. From Europe to America, from London to Paris, from the San Jose Chinese Catholic Association in Washington, led by Rev. Mathew Koo, to Sacred Heart parish in Texas, the Mother of Help Association at St. Joseph’s Church led by Mgr. Joseph Chiang, the Chinese Catholic communities in New York and in Honolulu. “The Pope is an important reference point for China’s overseas Catholics. We are far from home and we suffer with the Pope and find comfort in his words and strength to carry on. When we heard the Pope had been admitted to hospital we used e-mail messages to contact other overseas Catholics to ask them to pray with us and we too received many similar messages from Chinese speaking communities, as well as information on his condition” the source told Fides.
(Agenzia Fides 4/03/2005 Righe: 21 Parole: 230)