From AsiaNews
Rome (AsiaNews) - Four priests from the underground community of the diocese of Zhangjiakou (Hebei) were taken away by police because they refused to join the Patriotic Association.
The diocese of Zhangjiakou was formed by the government and includes two ancient dioceses, that of Xiwanzi and Xuanhua.
Two priests belong to the Diocese of Xiwanzi. They are Fr Zhang Guilin and Fr Wang Zhong. The other two belong to the diocese of Xuanhua and are Fr Su Guipeng and Fr Zhao He.
All priests were taken from their churches and taken to some hotel to be indoctrinated on the religious policy of the Chinese government. They suffer this treatment because they refuse to enroll in the Patriotic Association, which has as its purpose the building of a Church independent of the Holy See.
According to some sources, Fr Zhao He would instead be under house arrest, also subjected to indoctrination.
Since China and the Vatican have signed an agreement on the appointment of bishops, with which - at least in theory - the Pope is recognized as head of the Catholic Church - the Patriotic Association and the United Front are campaigning to remind all priests that the Church in China "despite the agreement", is "independent" and for this it obliges the underground priests not registered to join the Patriotic Association.
Many underground priests would be willing to be recognized by the government, but they do not want to belong to the PA, which according to the Letter to the Catholics of Benedict XVI, has statutes that "are irreconcilable" with Catholic doctrine.
The message that Pope Francis sent to Chinese Catholics , immediately after the agreement, does not deal with this burning theme among the underground faithful. Sources of AsiaNews state that the Vatican's position towards the AP has not changed and the Vatican delegation hopes to face the issue of the statutes of the PA in the future. Wang Meixiu, a religion expert at the Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that the AP could be an association with an optional membership.
In the meantime, however, both in Hebei and in Henan, the number of underground communities is growing and being suppressed and unable to gather. Many crosses and decorations of the sacred buildings are destroyed in the name of the sinicizzazione , of the submission of the Catholic faith to the Chinese culture, but above all to the PA and to the united Front, svigorendo every impulse of evangelization.
On the first of November, the cross from the bell tower of the church of Shangcai (Henan) was destroyed, along with the spiers of the building. The church has been sealed and nobody can use it as a place of worship.
Many underground Catholics, looking at the silence of the media about their suffering, feel " abandoned", "forgotten" and even "betrayed" .
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