ROME – Chinese security forces have arrested Wenzhou's Catholic underground bishop Peter Xiao Zimin for refusing to join the state-run Chinese Patriotic Association.
Bishop Shao is ordained In 2011, he received a mandate from Pope Benedict XVI to become co-judicial bishop, but he has never been recognized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because he was reluctant to join the Patriotic Association.
Mr. Xiao was set to take over the leadership of the Catholic Diocese of Wenzhou, one of China's oldest and most vibrant Catholic communities, after the death of his predecessor, Bishop Vincent Zhu Weifang, in 2016. He has been prevented from holding the job by the authorities. he has completed his mission.
Since 2014, the Chinese Communist Party has targeted Wenzhou in its brutal cross-removal program, with authorities removing more than 2,000 crosses from church buildings. The campaign to eradicate iconic Christian symbols from China's landscape has included the destruction of crosses and churches, as well as beatings and arrests of Christians who try to resist.
This Dec. 6, 2009 file photo shows the Golden Candlestick Church in Linfen, northern China's Shanxi province. A paramilitary force known as the People's Armed Police used an excavator and dynamite on Tuesday, January 9, 2018, to destroy the Church of the Golden Candlestick, a Christian megachurch that had clashed with the government, according to witnesses and foreign activists. Destroyed. (Andy Wong, File/AP)
In place of Bishop Shao, the Chinese government unilaterally appointed Father Ma Xian, a member of the China Catholic Patriotic Association, to run the Diocese of Wenzhou, which does not have a bishop recognized by the Chinese Communist Party.
According to a report in Asia News, the official news agency of the Pontifical Institute for Missions Abroad, police arrested the 61-year-old prelate on the night of January 2 and instructed him to bring seasonal clothing.
“He was ordered to wear spring, summer, fall and winter clothes,” said the anonymous official. “This suggests that his situation is not promising and he will probably be detained for a long time. Believers are worried because they don't even know where he will be detained.”
Local believers reported that Bishop Hsiao was regularly detained during Christian festivals to prevent him from leading public celebrations.
The reason for the recent arrest appears to be a protest expressed by the bishop in a letter to Father Ma on December 31st.
“In 2019, without my permission, there was a change of diocese and a transfer of priests from this church, and the Diocese of Lishui was demoted to the status of a parish in the Diocese of Wenzhou without my permission,” Bishop Xiao said in the letter.
“Four years later, I read again about the division of parishes and the transfer of priests without the permission of the bishop. I immediately wrote to you and asked for your recommendation,” he wrote.
“The same is true for the promotion of seminarians. According to church law, they must be personally appointed by the bishop of the diocese or require a power of attorney from the bishop,” he added.
“According to canon law, anyone who receives sacred orders from someone who does not have valid ordination rights is automatically suspended,” he said.
In August last year, religious freedom advocate Nina Xia criticized Pope Francis' appeasement policy toward China, arguing that it emboldens President Xi Jinping's crackdown on Chinese Christians.
Catholics and members of other religions in China are facing “the worst repression since Mao Zedong.” I have written The Vatican's 2018 agreement with Mr. Xia, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, to give the Chinese government a say in the appointment of Chinese bishops only serves the interests of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In reality, the Chinese government is exploiting the Vatican's weaknesses to push through unilateral decisions that damage the Catholic Church, knowing that it will not encounter serious resistance from Rome.
Last July, for example, the Vatican announced it would accept the appointment of Bishop Joseph Shenbing as China's autonomous bishop of Shanghai, in open violation of the Chinese Communist Party's 2018 agreement with the Vatican.
Mr. Shen was appointed by the state-run Chinese Bishops' Council, an organization of which Mr. Shen himself was the head. Mr. Shen pledged to support the Chinese Communist Party's principles of independence and autonomy for the Chinese church and the Catholic “Sinicization” movement in China.
write to wall street journalFrancis Rocca Said At the time, the Vatican's surrender was “the latest sign of the pope's determination to pursue improved relations with China, despite China's tightening of religious restrictions.”
In an August article, Xia noted that the Chinese government uses surveillance technology in churches to ensure compliance with its “Sinicization” program, which allows churches to “spread the principles of the Chinese Communist Party.” , said he has a duty to preach the Communist Party's “values.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, has implausibly claimed that sinicization is simply evangelical “infiltration,” Shea noted.
Last October, the Chinese Communist Party further tightened restrictions on religion. passing the Patriotic Education Act, which requires churches and religious organizations to adapt their educational activities to promote the party's official ideology;
“The state shall ensure that religious organizations, religious institutions, and religious activity centers carry out patriotic educational activities, and that religious professionals and believers advocate for the great motherland, the Chinese people, Chinese culture, the Communist Party of China, and socialism with Chinese characteristics.” has been determined.
This law stipulates that “patriotic education shall permeate the entire curriculum of school education at all levels and types of schools,'' and that “parents or other guardians of minors shall also include love of the motherland in their home education.'' “Must be” is mandatory.
Diplomatic relations between China and the Holy See ended in 1951 after China expelled all foreign missionaries. Afterwards, Chinese Catholics split into the state-controlled Chinese Patriotic Association and the underground church loyal to Rome.
Chinese Catholics kneel in prayer during Palm Sunday Mass during Easter Holy Week at an “underground” or “unofficial” church near Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China, April 9, 2017. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
