A bishop, seven priests and ten seminarians in handcuffs: the apostolic prefecture of Xinxiang cleared in two days. The Chinese police blitz seems to have been studied for some time and could delay the pope’s visit to Beijing
AsiaNews he revealed that “in just two days, almost all the ecclesiastical personnel of the apostolic prefecture of Xinxiang were wiped out with an operation by the police forces of the Hebei province”. And again: “Yesterday 21 May the bishop Msgr. Zhang Weizhu; the day before seven priests and 10 seminarians were arrested ”.
The site directed by father Bernardo Cervellera he offered other details: “On May 20, in the early afternoon at least 100 policemen from Hebei province – from Cangzhou, Hejian, and Shaheqiao – surrounded the building used as a diocesan seminary in Shaheqiao (Hebei). Xinxiang, in fact, used a small factory owned by a Hebei Catholic as a seminary. Police entered the building and arrested four priests, seminary teachers, and three other priests who are doing pastoral work. Together with them, 10 seminarians who received lessons in the factory were arrested ”. And in light of the directives of the New Regulations on religious activities, the factory was closed and the manager of the company was arrested.
The fear, continues the site, is that the operation against the apostolic prefecture of Xinxiang (which is not recognized by the Chinese government and therefore considered “criminal”) was planned for some time, judging by the enormous deployment of police forces that went “From house to house” in search of seminarians who would be able to escape.
According to many observers, it continues AsiaNews, since the signing of the provisional agreement between China and the Holy See, the persecution against Catholics – especially the unofficial ones – has increased. “The Agreement concerns only the appointment of new bishops, but it was premised that the rest of the situation of the Church would remain on standby, waiting to address the problems with dialogue between the two parties. Instead the police forces have placed bishops under house arrest, imposed very high fines on the faithful, expelled parish priests from churches, arrested priests and seminarians. For many faithful ‘the Agreement has been betrayed’ ”, concludes the website of Father Cervellera.
Observers do not escape it until the beginning of the week pope Francesco had nominated Stephen Chow, 61-year-old Jesuit, the new bishop of Hong Kong. Interviewed by Formiche.net, Father Cervellera considered the agreement between the Holy See and China to be “dead” and to a question about whether the Hong Kong office had been vacant from 2019 he replied as follows: “I believe that in Rome they were faced with a dilemma. Choose a bishop closer to the democratic movement or central government. For the first figure circulated the name of Joseph Ha, for the second that of Peter Choi. They have identified a median way ”.
“The choice of a Jesuit to lead the diocese of Hong Kong,” he explained Antonio Spadaro, also a Jesuit, director of the Catholic Civilization, a Formiche.net, “Evokes the figure of Matteo Ricci and the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Father, referred to this Arturo Sosa, presenting it as a symbol of dialogue with Chinese culture ”.
Oltretevere the dream of seeing Francis in China is cradled, it would be the first time for a pontiff. But the road still seems uphill. Also because the international picture, with the departure of Donald Trump and the entrance of the Catholic Joe Biden in the White House, it has changed profoundly. Element, already underlined on these pages, well known to the Holy See.