News Archive China China Arrests Christian Blogger SHANGHAI, China, Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - An Internet writer who posted articles online supporting China's unofficial Christian church has been arrested amid a widening police crackdown on unregistered religious activities, a U.S.-based monitoring group said Tuesday. Computer technician Zhang Shengqi was detained last month in a raid on the home of his fiancee in the northeastern city of Jilin and has been charged with leaking state secrets, the China Aid Association said. Zhang was later transferred to a jail in the eastern city of Hangzhou, where local authorities earlier detained two other activists as part of a crackdown on unofficial church activities, the association said. Telephones rang unanswered at Hangzhou's city government offices. A woman at the city's police bureau who would only give her family name, Liu, said she had "never heard of this case," while a man at the provincial jail said he was "unclear" about the matter. He refused to give his name. Zhang's arrest appeared to be related to police suspicions that he helped church historian Liu Fenggang post information on the Internet about the Hangzhou crackdown. Liu, a veteran pro-democracy campaigner, has also been detained in Hangzhou on state secrets charges. City authorities earlier this year demolished a number of unregistered churches and detained preachers in what activists said was a trial run for techniques to be used against unregistered religious groups elsewhere in China. Bob Fu, president of the Glenside, Pennsylvania-based China Aid, said authorities tried to keep the crackdown quiet, but church activists elsewhere soon spread word about it and several traveled to Hangzhou to investigate. Zhang's case could be more complicated because it brings together two key security concerns for China's secretive communist rulers: Unauthorized religious activity and political use of the Internet. China allows worship only in tightly controlled state churches and regards unregistered congregations as subversive channels for foreign infiltration. Those who meet outside the official church are routinely harassed and fined, and sometimes sent to labor camps. While authorities have promoted the Internet for commercial use, they have given long prison terms to people who send or post messages online that criticize the government or advocate greater political or religious freedoms. Chinese Christian arrested for putting information on Internet Shanghai, China, Dec. 16, 2003 (CWNews.com)A Chinese man was arrested by Communist authorities for posting articles on a web site about the crackdown on Chinese underground churches, according to a US-based human rights group. The China Aid Association said Zhang Shengqi was arrested last month in a raid on his fiance's home and has been charged with leaking state secrets. He is currently being held in jail in the city of Hangzhou along with other Christians who have been arrested as part of a crackdown on underground and illegal religious activities. Zhang was apparently arrested in connection with the case against Liu Fenggang, who was arrested earlier this year for posting information about Christians in China on the Internet. While Beijing has promoted the use of the Internet by its citizens for commercial purposes, it has strictly regulated use of the computer network for political or other unauthorized activities. Sources says two Chinese bishops detained, pressured to register HONG KONG (CNS) October 14, 2003 -- Two elderly bishops in northern China reportedly were detained by police, who pressed them to register with the local Catholic Patriotic Association. Church sources in China Oct. 13 told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, that on Oct. 2 police took into custody Bishop Peter Zhao Zhendong of Xuanhua and Auxiliary Bishop Yao Liang of Xiwanzi (Siwantze) in Hebei province. Neither bishop is affiliated with the government-approved church, or Patriotic Association, UCA News reported. The sources said Bishop Zhao, 83, was released Oct. 11, but there was no news on the release of Bishop Yao, who is about 80. Bishop Emeritus of Macau Fears for Church's Future in China KONIGSTEIN, Germany, DEC. 2, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Retired Bishop Arquimínio Rodrigues da Costa of Macau has voiced concern about the future of the Catholic Church in the People's Republic of China. "If the regime remains in power, I do not see that the Catholic Church could have a future in China other than that of a persecuted Church," Bishop Rodrigues said last week in Fatima, during a seminar on "Christianity in China." The bishop, who lived in Macau from 1938 to 1989, pointed out that the Chinese government "wants to control everything, including religions. And there are reports to confirm this." Macau, a former Portuguese territory located in the delta of the Pearl River, near Hong Kong, returned to Chinese rule in December 1999. The seminar, organized by the Divine Word Missionaries, was under the aegis of the Jorge Alvares Foundation and the Portuguese branch of the Germany-based international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. ZE03120202 KONIGSTEIN, Germany, DEC. 2, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Christians Arrested and Sent to Labour Camps Nov. 25, 2003, MISNA -The residents of a village of the Guangxi province (southern China) today accused the local police of in the past months arresting all people found in possession of Bibles, imposing them to forced labour, as part of a campaign for the eradication of ?llegal religious organisations· A report containing these charges was consigned by the residents of the Xilin county to the France Press agency. The text indicates that during the night of April 27, forty-some police officers stormed the villages inhabited by Christians, searching homes for Bibles and other religious material. The news is confirmed by the arrest reports, which indicate that 3 people of the villages of Weishan and Tianbao were taken from their homes and sentenced without trial to 18 months in a labour camp run by a company. After several unsuccessful attempts, on October 21 the families of the detained people were able to visit their loved ones. Since the late 90? the security forces have suspected the practice in the villages of Guangxi of religious activities considered illegal by Beijing. According to the Hong Kong-based Human rights information centre, the national campaign aimed at eliminating ?llegal religious organisations·could end up affecting, directly or indirectly, 50-million Chinese. Religious communities in China are only tolerated if professed in structures recognised and controlled by the government. China Keeps a Tight Fist on Christianity Pursues Economic Liberalism Along With Ideological Rigidity HONG KONG, NOV. 22, 2003 (Zenit.org).- The dynamism and increasing openness of China's economy is well known. Recognizing that more freedom leads to greater economic growth, China's rulers have been loosening their controls on economic activity. But when it comes to other freedoms, particularly religious liberty, the rulers continue to take a hard-line approach. According to the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation, every one of the underground Catholic Church bishops is either in jail, under house arrest, under strict surveillance, or in hiding. Bishop Su Zhimin of Baoding, in Hebei province, was arrested in 1997, and resurfaced only in the past week. He was spotted, still under custody, at a hospital seeking treatment. Bishop An Shuxin of Baoding was arrested in March 1996. Bishop Han Dingxiang of Yong Nian, Hebei, was arrested in December 1999. Bishop Shi Enxiang of Yixian, Hebei, was arrested in April 13, 2001. They are all now in jail. Numerous priests and seminarians have also been arrested in recent years. Repression by Chinese authorities has intensified in recent months. On July 7, Reuters reported that five members of the underground Catholic clergy were arrested in northern China while trying to visit a priest recently released from a labor camp. Fathers Kang Fuliang, Chen Guozhen, Pang Guangzhao and Joseph Yin and deacon Wang Lijun were arrested in Baoding on July 1. Another priest, Lu Xiaozhou, was arrested in the eastern city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province on June 16 as he was preparing to perform the sacrament of anointing of the sick. A more widespread campaign was detailed in a June 29 article by the Spanish daily El Mundo. The newspaper reported that in Wenzhou, on China's eastern coast, authorities declared that they had identified 4,800 centers dedicated to promoting "feudal superstition." All the Christian churches were marked with signs in red paint, earmarking them for destruction. Authorities proclaimed that their campaign led to the destruction, often using dynamite, of more than 3,000 churches. China's leaders see in organized religion, and in particular Christian groups, the last holdout to their absolute domination, reported the newspaper. Although the country's Constitution in theory guarantees the freedom to practice a number of religious creeds, in practice Communist Party authorities only allow leeway to those groups that accept its domination. On Sept. 12 the religious rights organization Compass Direct reported that officers of China's Public Security Bureau arrested 170 Christians at a rural house church meeting in Nanyang, in Henan province, on Sept. 2. The officials singled out 14 key religious leaders for detention, letting the others free after fingerprinting and warning them. Authorities have unleashed a new wave of persecution in recent weeks. On Oct. 20 the Associated Press reported that an activist for an unofficial Christian church was detained after investigating the destruction of churches by authorities in eastern China. Liu Fenggang, 43, was detained Oct. 13 in the city of Hangzhou while visiting with leaders of the destroyed churches who had just been released from detention. According to the report, at least 10 Christian churches since July have been torn down by authorities in the Hangzhou area as "illegal religious venues." On Oct. 27 the Cardinal Kung Foundation reported that a dozen underground Catholic priests and seminarians who were attending a religious retreat Oct. 20 at Gaocheng County, Hebei, were arrested. The arrests followed the destruction of a Catholic church in Hebei by the Chinese government on June 21. The church had been completed only two weeks before and served 150 parishioners, mostly recent converts. On Nov. 10 the London daily Times reported that authorities in the Zhejiang province outside Shanghai have shut down more than 400 Buddhist temples and Christian churches in a renewed attempt to stamp out underground religious activity. The action was centered on Deqing County, where 392 temples and 10 churches were closed, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. Of these, four churches and 24 temples were destroyed, while 92 temples were transformed into entertainment centers. The Times reported that Zhejiang province is the ancestral home of a large part of the Chinese-American community. The government fears that funds collected in Chinese-American churches in the United States are helping to finance a rapid expansion of underground churches in the region. "Theological reconstruction" But China's efforts are not limited to thwarting unauthorized religious activity. The long-term goal is to influence the theological orientation of believers so they become aligned with the country's rulers. This ideological dimension was explained in a document published last Monday by the human rights organization International Christian Concern. The Washington, D.C.-based group published some notes based on talks given by representatives of the officially recognized Protestant "Three Self Patriotic Church." Arguing the need for a "theological reconstruction," the Three Self Patriotic Church officials alleged that "Christians are told that their citizenship is in heaven, and therefore are urged to refuse the supervision of the authorities and to disobey laws and regulations." Hence, "this has led some churches and innocent believers to oppose the government, to oppose social development and nation building." According to the notes, theological ideas that are "anti-material, anti-rational, anti-social and anti-humanist" must be "abandoned." The implications of the theological position being advocated by Chinese authorities were spelled out recently by a Bishop Ding. He is the most influential leader of the state-controlled Three Self Patriotic Church, according to a Nov. 14 news release by the rights group Compass Direct. In September a magazine in Tianfeng published the text of a lecture he gave at the East China Theological Seminary in Shanghai, titled "Theological Construction Enters a New Stage." Ding insisted that the Christian beliefs brought to China by the 19th-century missionaries intimidate people. "We Chinese Christians must unite with all the people of China and not be disunited with other people because they do not believe," he stated. "We must remold Chinese Christianity to become a Christianity which ... will be welcomed by the Chinese Communist Party and is compatible with socialism." Economic pressure Westerners who do business in China should insist on greater religious freedom for the country's citizens, said Hong Kong's Bishop Joseph Zen in an interview with the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire published Sept. 20. Interviewed during a visit in Italy, Bishop Zen added he feared that China could someday impose on Hong Kong the same religious repression now being carried out on the mainland. In Hong Kong the Church educates 25% of students in its 300 schools, and Bishop Zen said he also feared authorities may take control of these institutions. Bishop Zen observed that many thought China's openness on economic matters would, in the long run, lead to greater political freedom. This hope has only been partially fulfilled, he said, and while some progress has been made on religious matters nothing essential has changed. It's fine to do business with China, he said, but he hopes that this will also lead to interest in human rights matters. As the country busily remodels its capital Beijing to present a good image during the 2008 Olympic Games, China-observers can only hope that the world's largest nation gets its religious-rights record in order too. ZE03112203 China Shuts 400 Temples and Churches in Zhejiang Province HONG KONG, NOV. 11, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Chinese authorities have closed down more than 400 Buddhist temples and Christian churches in a renewed attempt to stamp out underground religious activity. Human rights groups say the crackdown had been carried out by public security officials in Zhejiang province, in eastern China, against those who do not belong to government-approved groups, such as the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said that 392 Buddhist temples and Christian churches were "closed" as part of a campaign against "key members of illegal religious groups." The rights group said four churches and 24 temples had been destroyed outright while 92 temples had been confiscated for use as "entertainment centers." The center also reported that Liu Fenggan, a Christian, who traveled to the province to look into the situation, had been detained by the police. China maintains that it defends religious liberty, but in fact it only recognizes those churches directly controlled by the government. It broke off relations with the Vatican a half-century ago. The Vatican estimates that China has some 8 million Catholics loyal to the Holy See, compared with 5 million Catholics in the state-backed "patriotic" Church. ZE03111106 Despite Fear and Difficulties Catholics in Shandong Celebrate Canonisation of Father Joseph Freinademetz Missionary to China Shandong (Fides Service) - The deep faith of Chinese Catholics sustains them even amidst difficulties and persecution. Over a century ago when the Catholic community in Shandong province in eastern China was struck by an epidemic of typhoid fever, people prayer fervently. Assistance to the sick was organised by Divine Word missionary Father Joseph Freinademetz who will be canonised by the Pope in Rome on 5 October. Joseph Freinademetz was one of the first Divine Word missionaries to work in China, particularly in the Shandong area. Joseph Freinademetz was born in South Tyrol in 1852, ordained a priest in 1975, and a year later he joined the Divine Word Missionaries. In 1881 he was entrusted with the Divine Word mission in Shandong and he became known as "the father founder of the Church in southern Shandong. People called him Fr 'Fu Ruo she' and compared him to Confucian, China's greatest scholar, because the people said, Fr Joseph possessed all the moral virtues. Still today Catholics in difficulty have recourse to Fr Joseph Freinademetz. During the SARS epidemic in spring people prayed to their special missionary to intercede with God to help. A local Catholic Mr Wang tells Fides: "amidst difficulties and the fear, due to scarce information about the disease, the local Catholic community prayed intensely to Joseph Freinademetz who died to save his people from typhoid fever. And the SARS emergency is not over, it good break out again in the winter". Joseph Freinademetz remained 27 years in Shandong province and died there. Christians in Shandong are planing various celebrations in view of the canonisation. "A novena of prayer, rosaries, Masses...are the best way to commemorate our Saint and his life" an elderly Catholic tells Fides Service. However the faithful hope one day to be able to pray all together without being observed by government officials with diffidence because of their origin. NZ (Fides Service 30/9/2003 EM lines 28 Words: 339) China Missionary to Be Canonized Father Joseph Freinademetz of the Society of the Divine Word VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 21, 2003 (Zenit.org).- The Society of the Divine Word will have a day of celebration Oct. 5 when John Paul II canonizes one of the congregation's own, Father Joseph Freinademetz. Father Freinademetz, whose motto was "The language everyone understands is love," was known for his intense apostolic activity in China. Born on April 15, 1852, in Oies, an Alpine hamlet in northern Italy, he began to give serious thought to the missions while he was studying in the major seminary of Bresanone. Ordained a priest on July 25, 1875, he was sent to the community of St. Martin of Badia, near his birthplace, where he soon won over the hearts of his countrymen. Two years later, his bishop gave him permission to follow a missionary vocation. In August 1878 he entered the Society of the Divine Word, whose founder Arnold Janssen will also be canonized Oct. 5. On March 2, 1879, Father Freinademetz received the missionary cross and left for China together with another Divine Word missionary, Father John Baptist Anzer. They prepared for the mission for two years in Hong Kong and were then assigned to Shantung South, a province with 12 million inhabitants and only 158 baptized individuals. Father Freinademetz wanted to learn Chinese perfectly and to win the hearts of the people. "I love China and the Chinese and I would like to die a thousand times for them," he wrote his parents in 1886. "Now that I don't have so many difficulties with the language and that I know the people and their customs, I think of China as my homeland, as my field of battle where I wish to die." Those years were characterized by long and difficult trips, assaults by bandits, and arduous work to form the first Christian communities. No sooner was one community under way, the bishop would ask him to start another elsewhere. Father Freinademetz understood the importance of the five laymen who were involved in the first evangelization, especially as catechists. He put much effort into their formation and prepared a catechetical manual in Chinese for them. Together with John Baptist Anzer, already a bishop, he dedicated himself to the preparation, spiritual care and permanent formation of Chinese priests and other missionaries. Father Freinademetz died in Taikiachwang on Jan. 28, 1908, from a typhus epidemic, an illness he caught while working with patients. His grave immediately became a place of pilgrimage for Christians. He was beatified on Oct. 19, 1975. ZE03092105 China says no to Hong Kong visit, so U.S. commission cancels trip WASHINGTON August 8, 2003 (CNS) -- A U.S. government commission that monitors religious freedom canceled a planned trip to China after Chinese officials told delegation members they could not visit Hong Kong. "This action on the part of the Chinese government suggests a degree of Chinese control over foreign access to Hong Kong that is unprecedented and in contradiction to the concept of 'one country, two systems,'" Michael Young, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said in a statement. Last December, Chinese officials first invited the commission to visit. Negotiations between the commission and the Chinese government began in February, and commission members assumed that Hong Kong would be part of the official itinerary, said the Aug. 8 statement. In late July, the Chinese government "strongly discouraged" the commission from visiting Hong Kong. A short time after that the government insisted that Hong Kong be removed from the itinerary, the commission statement said. "As a commission concerned (about) religious and related rights, we cannot accede to such a condition," Young said. Letters from China: On Sunday Mass: One Sunday, I celebrated Mass for 500 Catholics in a church that was temporarily converted from a warehouse. Most of these people were new converts. We had Mass in the early morning at 5:30. Then, there was Bible study at 9 AM and 3 PM. A total of 400 people attended. Holy hour started at 4 PM, followed by Benediction and evening prayers. A weekday Mass was usually attended by 200 people, almost half of the congregation. As a result of the new converts own evangelizing zeal, there has been a very rapid increase in the Catholic population. On a retreat: I preached a 6-day retreat for a group of 50 nuns, novices and postulants. The retreat was held in the sitting room of someones house. The room was approximately 35 square meters. At night, this same room became the bedroom for all the nuns. (It is unthinkable in China for the nuns to have separate rooms in which to sleep.) .After the retreat, there was the profession of vows. During the profession, the nuns temporarily put on their habits, for it is illegal in China to wear a religious habit unless the nun belongs to the government-established Patriotic Association. The nuns treasured this brief privilege of wearing the habit, and dreamed of the day when they can openly wear it as witnesses of their betrothal to Jesus and to the one true Church. On an underground seminary schedule: On an average day, each seminarian spends 4.5 hours in community and private prayers including Mass, adoration, meditation, examination of conscience, and etc., 5 hours in classes, 2.5 hours in private study, and 4.5 hours in meals and rest. Detail schedules are: 04:30 Rise; 04:45 Meditation; 05:15 Mass and Morning Prayers; 06:00 Study; 07:00 Breakfast; 08:00 First Class; 09:00 Second Class; 10:00 Third Class; 11:00 Study; 11:30 Rosary, Examination of Conscience, and Noon Prayers; 12:00 Lunch; 12:45 Noon Break; 14:00 Fourth Class; 15:00 Fifth Class; 16:00 Adoration of the Eucharist, Evening Prayers, and Rosary; 17:00 Study; 18:00 Dinner; 19:30 Spiritual Formation Exercise; 20:40 Examination of Conscience, Evening Prayers, and Meditation (Strict silence until tomorrow after breakfast); 21:00 End of the day. Rest. Going to bed. (Seminarians take turns to lead the prayers, cook meals, wash clothes, community house work, etc.) On nuns: I (an underground bishop) have 170 professed nuns and 40 postulants. Everyday, they must spend hours working on handcrafts to earn their keep. We desperately need your financial help so that they can focus on teaching Catechism and visiting Catholics. Our parishioners are too poor to help. These stories of the underground Catholics in China are from the website of Cardinal Kung foundation. Priest of Underground Church Arrested (misna) 25/6/2003 A Catholic priest of the so-called "underground" church, was reportedly arrested in the past few days in eastern China. It was reported by the Catholic News Agency "UCA News", which specified that on June 16, public security officials arrested Father Lu Xiaozhou of the "underground" Church as he went that afternoon to Wenzhou City Hospital (1,416 kilometers southeast of Beijing) to anoint the sick. Sources said the security officials went to the priest's house later that afternoon and removed all his belongings including documents. Father Xiaozhou was transferred to the custody of the Religious Affairs Bureau the next day, with the probable intention of forcing him to sign an agreement letter to join the government-recognized Catholic Patriotic Association. According to the UCA News agency, he will not be released soon if he does not sign such a letter. The association is a body of the government-approved "open" Church. Meanwhile, Human Rights in China (HRIC), an NGO based in the United States, reported 12 Protestants belonging to a "house church" were arrested June 6. House churches are not affiliated to the China Christian Council, the government-approved administrative body for the Protestant Church in China. Members worship in houses or other venues not registered as churches. Eight of the 12 arrested, including Huang Changshou, Huang Guojie, Huang Shaoxian, Huang Tingyi, Huang Yuting and Wang Qiyou, are members of a house church in Nanong village, Funing county, in Yunnan province. Funing is 2,084 kilometers southwest of Beijing. Family members of Wang and seven others received notices from the Funing County Public Security Bureau informing them that the eight were being detained indefinitely for engaging in feudalistic superstition. The other four were said to be placed under detention for 15 days. Communist China officially endorses religious freedom but only recognises the authority of state religious organisations. It broke off relations with the Vatican half a century ago. The Vatican estimates Communist China has about eight million Catholics loyal to the Holy See, compared with just 5 million in the State-backed Catholic Church. China Reportedly Arrests 4 Priests and a Deacon BEIJING, JULY 6, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Five members of the underground Catholic clergy have been arrested while trying to visit a priest recently freed from a labor camp, a U.S.-based religious rights group said, according to Reuters. Fathers Kang Fuliang, Chen Guozhen, Pang Guangzhao and Joseph Yin and Deacon Wang Lijun, aged 25 to 32, were arrested in Baoding city in Hebei province on July 1, said the Connecticut-based Cardinal Kung Foundation. They were on their way to visit Father Lu Genjun, who had just been released after three years in a labor camp, the foundation said Saturday. It gave no further details. Although the Communist government says it respects religious freedom, it only allows freedom of worship to people who belong to religious organizations which it maintains under strict control. In 1951, it broke off relations with the Vatican. China Tightening Its Grip on Catholics 3 Documents Stress a "Democratic" Church Separated from Rome ROME, MAY 28, 2003 (Zenit.org).- An expert in Chinese affairs says that three official documents formalize stricter control over the lives of Chinese Catholics. In an article Tuesday in the Italian newspaper Avvenire, Father Bernardo Cervellera, former director of the Vatican agency Fides, revealed that the documents aim to promote even further a Catholic Church "independent" of Rome, controlled by the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics. The directives, which have been in force in Beijing and Hebei, will be applied on a national scale. They were approved at the end of March, amid the SARS epidemic. Ye Xiaowen, director of the state Office for Religious Affairs, justified the three documents by saying that they "filled the void" in the "democratic" management of the Church. They stress "independence, autonomy and self-management," the Communist aide said. In fact, the texts are not presented as government mandates, but as self-management regulations adopted by entities recognized by the state. The titles of the three documents are telling: "Method of Management of Catholic Dioceses in China," "Rules for the Work of the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics" and "Method of Work of the Unitary Assembly of the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics and of the Chinese Catholic Episcopal Conference." Excerpts from the documents quoted by Father Cervellera reveal that they impose a "democratic" concept of the Church, "which runs the risk of destroying the apostolic and sacramental dimension of the Catholic faith, with the risk of reducing the Church in China to the rank of a sect." In any case, it seeks to sever the Chinese Church's dependence on the Pope. "It is possible that the promulgation of these new rules, unacceptable for Catholics, gives way to a new wave of persecutions," he warned. According to sources quoted by Father Cervellera, Catholics in China number about 12 million, though the government only recognizes some 4 million to 5 million. There are 117 Catholic bishops, only 70 of whom are recognized by the state authorities. The government recognizes 2,600 priests; another 1,000 are not recognized. The Patriotic Association has ordained 1,500 priests over the past 20 years. Women religious number 5,000; two-thirds of them are officially recognized. Bishop's election to Chinese congress draws varying church reactions HONG KONG (CNS) April 9, 2003-- The election of a government-recognized bishop as the first Catholic in the leadership of China's top legislative body has drawn varying reactions from mainland church leaders and church watchers in Hong Kong. Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan of Beijing, 62, was elected as one of 15 vice chairmen of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress, China's legislature. The vice chairmen assist the chairman in handling the day-to-day work of the Standing Committee and can serve up to two five-year terms, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Bishop Fu is chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and vice president of the Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China, the government-approved bishops' conference. Anthony Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, told UCA News March 26 that Bishop Fu's new position reflects the trust people have in the Catholic Church and affirms the government's policy of religious freedom. Anthony Lam Sui-ki, senior researcher at the Holy Spirit Study Center of Hong Kong Diocese, called the position a "reward" for Bishop Fu. He said the election might cause discord among religions in the country, because the Catholic Church is not seen as contributing actively to society. back to index of Chinese articles