Sometime in early July, 50-year-old Father Cui Tai, a priest loyal to Rome, made the mistake of getting in a minor motorcycle accident in Hebei Province. Chinese police detained him, according to the Connecticut-based Cardinal Kung Foundation, which follows the church in China. He has been locked in the local jail ever since.
On July 24, policemen came to the door of a Catholic home in Inner Mongolia. Thirty-four-year-old Father Gao Jinbao, 35-year-old Father Lian Aijun and 41-year-old Father Wang Zhong had been hiding there after fleeing from Hebei Province, where they had refused to join the official government church. The priests were first kept incommunicado in an iron cage, according to the Cardinal Kung Foundation, then carted off to parts unknown.
These arrests were in keeping with the longstanding anti-religious practices of China's regime, which have been unchanged by almost two decades of post-Tiananmen Square Massacre "engagement" with Western business interests and trading partners. "Harassment of unregistered Catholic bishops, priests and laypersons, including government surveillance and detentions, continued," says the State Department's most recent report on human rights in China.
There are not 900,000 underground Catholics in China, says State. There are about 4.5 million members in the official government church, and something more than 4.5 million in the underground church. These underground millions are not served by a mere 12 octogenarian bishops who are hobbled by age, but according to the State Department's report on religious freedom, by "approximately 40 bishops operating 'underground,' some of who were likely in prison or under house arrest."
Protestants belonging to unofficial underground churches in China face similar persecution.
When the Olympics convene next summer, the eyes of the world will momentarily focus on fleeting athletic triumphs. China may or may not reap a transitory propaganda victory. But Pope Benedict has his eyes on a more enduring prize. Citing Christ's command to "make disciples of all nations," he wrote to the church in China, "Now, at the dawn of the third millennium, it is your turn."
Terry Jeffrey
Terence P. Jeffrey is the editor-in-chief of CNSNews
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