Reuters reports that two nuns from an unofficial Vatican diplomatic mission in Hong Kong were arrested and placed under house arrest during their return home in China in May of this year. Some ecclesiastical sources believe the incident reflects a desire by Beijing authorities to shut down the mission. The Diocese of Hong Kong hierarchy also believes the authorities are expanding their control over the diocese and even trying to influence the choice of the next bishop.
The newspaper quoted three clergy as saying that two nuns in their 40s working at the mission, who are from mainland China, were arrested by Chinese authorities in May this year while returning to Hebei province to visit relatives. They were detained for three weeks and released without being formally charged, but remain under house arrest and are not allowed to leave China.
Clergy with longstanding contacts in mainland China said that while priests are sometimes arrested in the mainland, “it is very unusual for nuns to be detained” because authorities “usually don’t touch them.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to the nuns’ case.
Chinese security personnel have stepped up surveillance of the mission in recent months, according to Western diplomats. The arrests are seen by top Vatican clerics as a sign that Beijing wants to shut down the mission. The mission lacks official status because the Holy See and China have not established formal diplomatic relations.
China’s Foreign Ministry says the Vatican has not yet established any official representation in Hong Kong.
Pressure is also being felt by core members of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong.
Senior members of the diocese told Reuters that Beijing is trying to expand its control over the diocese, with one aim being to influence the choice of Hong Kong’s next bishop. The post has been vacant since the death of the previous bishop two years ago. They said a two-year-old agreement between Beijing and the Holy See gives Beijing a major say in appointing bishops on the mainland, and Beijing is seeking to apply that agreement to Hong Kong.
Vatican officials say Hong Kong is not now covered by the interim Sino-Vatican agreement because it enjoys “one country, two systems.
Now the church in Hong Kong is under increasing pressure as Beijing moves to silence the Hong Kong opposition under a new National Security Law.
Senior clergy say mainland Chinese clerics have been indoctrinating Hong Kong clergy with the message that Beijing authorities favor clergy as bishops.
All church leaders, local priests and parishioners interviewed in the Reuters report declined to be named, except for Cardinal Joseph Zen, now 88. “For any word you say,” said Chen Zhigun, the authorities “can say you have violated the national security law.”
“We are at the bottom – there is no more freedom of speech,” he said, adding that “we are becoming like other cities in China.”
The Liaison Office did not respond to a request for comment.
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