Magister on China

In China, Obedience isn't a Virtue Anymore

Hebei is the region in China with the highest concentration of Catholics, at around a million and a half. And it is also where Catholics are persecuted the most, precisely because so many of the bishops, priests, and faithful refuse to register with the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, the organism through which the communist party exercises control over the official Church.

In Hebei, six bishops have vanished without a trace over the past ten years. These include the bishop of the diocese of Baoding, James Su Zhimin, who was arrested in 1996.

Practically all of the bishops now over fifty years old – even among those who belong to the official Church – have spent some time in prison or in the concentration camps. Last January 7 the oldest of them died: Joseph Meng Ziwen, the unofficial bishop of Nanning in Guagxi. He was 103 years old, and until recently said Mass every Sunday in three different parishes. He had spent more than twenty years in forced labor. The regime never recognized him as a bishop.