Police in Hebei, China, took action against the unofficial Catholic “Vicariate” of Xinxiang on May 20-21, arresting nearly all the church’s personnel, including Bishop Zhang Weizhu, 63, who was ordained by the Holy See. There are 100,000 Catholics in the Singhia Vicariate.
On the afternoon of May 20, at least 100 police officers (from Cangzhou, Hema and Shaheqiao) surrounded a building used as a diocesan seminary in Shaheqiao, according to the Rome Asia News (asianews.it) website on May 22. It is a small factory owned by a Catholic. The police entered the building and took away four priests, professors, three priests working in pastoral work, and 10 seminarians who were attending classes with them at the factory.
This report said that Bishop Zhang Weizhu, seven priests and 10 seminarians were taken away by police on May 21. Zhang Weizhu, 63, was ordained a bishop in 1991 and has been imprisoned several times. After the raid, police confiscated all the personal belongings of the priests and seminarians.
The source noted that some parishioners believe the raid had been planned for some time, given the size of the police deployment. Authorities may have believed that there were seminarians on the loose, and the police went door-to-door looking for them. Once found, objects such as crucifixes, statues, pictures of saints, photos of the Pope and other markers of the Catholic faith were immediately confiscated and destroyed, and the owners or possessors of the houses were fined.
The source said the Chinese government does not recognize the Vatican-approved vicariate of Xinxiang, Hebei. As a result, the activities of priests, seminarians and seminarians there are considered “illegal” by authorities. According to the Chinese government’s Regulations on Religious Affairs, the factory, which is being used as a monastery, will be closed and the person in charge arrested.
Observers believe that persecution of unofficial Catholics in China has increased since the signing of the Interim Agreement between China and the Vatican Holy See in 2018. The agreement covers only the appointment of bishops and is based on the premise that all outstanding issues of church life are to be resolved by further dialogue between the two sides.
Many believers believe that this Sino-Vatican Agreement has been betrayed, judging by the house arrest of bishops, the excommunication of priests and seminarians, and the extremely high fines imposed on priests.
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