Bernardo Cervellera

For the US Secretary of State, religious leaders must be "in permanent opposition to tyrannical regimes". China is the country where religious freedom is most constrained. For the Vatican Secretary of State, at the root of the violations there is "radical subjectivism", which silences believers by accusing them of having "hateful" and "intolerant" positions, because not aligned to the "politically correct". On the side-lines of the symposium on religious freedom, an exchange of accusations: the Vatican is losing "moral authority" in its Agreement with China, Pompey's exploitation of a pre-election visit to Rome and the Pope. Card. Zen was not received by the Pope. The Holy See wants to continue the Agreement.

Sunday Gospel: justice and grace (video)

The underground priest was kidnapped by members of the Religious Affairs Bureau. This isn't the first time he's been arrested. His father, 86, and his mother, 70, are in need of his assistance. At least 20 priests of the diocese are under pressure to sign up for membership of the "independent Church".

During his regular press conference, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman expresses appreciation for the "successful" implementation of the Sino-Vatican agreement and promises "improvements in bilateral relations". But he does not explicity commit to anything. Chinese Catholics see the renewal as a forgone conclusion: China dominates the Catholic Church and needs diplomatic victories. The United Front is pulling against the agreement.

Sunday Gospel: relativism and love (video)

The reasons why many Chinese become Christians are primarily "metaphysical"; the "pragmatic" ones (healing, escape from loneliness, help, ...) come later. The results of a survey carried out by a Protestant pastor show that Christian communities are made up of 72% of women and that the intellectual level has risen: 22% are university graduates.

A Protestant pastor carried out a national survey over two years (2017-2018) to understand "the mechanisms and characteristics" of the dizzying growth of Protestant communities in the People's Republic of China. Despite problems linked to security and control, 120 churches from 18 provinces of China participated.

Founded in 2004 to spread Chinese language and culture, the Confucius Institutes are suspected of industrial espionage, of influencing the politics of host countries and of lobbying for silence on burning issues: Tiananmen, Tibet, Taiwan, Uyghurs, issues of religious freedom. The silence of Institutes in Italy over demonstrations in Hong Kong and on police repressions. The ban on Western books and culture in Chinese universities. The Sino-Vatican agreement should ask that pontifical universities open "Catholic" spaces in Chinese universities.

The book ‘Cina COVID 19. La Chimera che ha cambiato il Mondo’ (Edizioni Cantagalli, Siena, 2020, 272 pages, 20 euros) by scientist Joseph Tritto was released today. China conducted bioengineering experiments with French and US financial and scientific help. The work was meant to develop vaccines, gradually morphing into military research. The Wuhan lab is now run by China’s People's Liberation Army under General Chen Wei, an expert in biochemical weapons and bioterrorism. Vaccines are a commercial venture. Getting China to sign the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention is one objective.

A private US company, Recorded Future, detected the espionage operation against the mail servers of the Vatican Secretariat of State, the Diocese of Hong Kong, and the Holy See’s Study Mission in Hong Kong, which acts as a quasi-nunciature. PIME’s mail server did not work for weeks. The AsiaNews website has been attacked but not disabled. The hacking is the work of RedDelta, an entity linked to the Chinese government. Recorded Future appears to have no links to the Trump administration. Espionage and hackers are an international problem to live with.

In little more than a month, he is the third underground bishop to be made official. The installation ceremony presided over by the head of the Patriotic Association and the bishop of Taiyuan. Msgr. Ma swars oath without reference to joining an "independent Church".

Born in 1922 in China into a family of British Anglicans, she became Catholic in her youth. After studying in Oxford, London, and Australia, she moved to Hong Kong in 1985, where she worked for China's economic opening to the world and for the reconstruction of the Church after the Cultural Revolution. In 2008 she set up a fund for Sichuan churches destroyed by an earthquake. She received the Pro Ecclesia et pro Pontifice medal.