Pilgrims treated as ‘illegal migrants’ while underground Catholics are arrested in Wenzhou
In the Chinese province of Zhejiang, the authorities have recently detained priests, nuns and ordinary Catholics who made a trip abroad last year; their goal is to induce underground Bishop Shao Zhumin to join a government-controlled Church body. Places of worship and the relatives of underground priests have also been targeted. One priest says, “we want to follow our conscience” without having to submit to the political whims of the Party.
Wenzhou (AsiaNews) – In recent weeks, the authorities have arrested several priests, nuns and faithful from the underground Church in the Diocese of Wenzhou on charges of "illegal migration".
The government is using this to put pressure on Bishop Shao Zhumin to "convert"; for local officials, if he accepts conversion, the religious will be released; otherwise, they risk being formally charged.
According to sources, since the death of Pope Francis, Wenzhou authorities have stepped up efforts to “convert” the underground Church.
Since early May, they have questioned all those who took part in an overseas pilgrimage last year, arresting a priest, two nuns and two believers on charges of “illegal migration.” Last weekend, another nun was arrested.
The authorities told the men and women of the cloth that, “If your Bishop Shao converts, they will all be released.”
When asked how the pilgrimage could be “illegal migration” since the participants already returned home, authorities said they had left on tourist visas but participated in religious activities abroad, which “did not correspond” to the stated purpose.
One source commented: “If they participated in events that did not conform to tourism, it is up to the country of destination to decide whether this violates the rules, not China. This is a clear case of fabricated accusations.”
The term “conversion” in reference to Bishop Shao here means “accepting the principles of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA),” that is, the Church’s independence and self-management separate from the Vatican.
The source explains that the underground Church is willing to register and abide by the laws, but not to break the bond with Rome, which has been firmly maintained for over half a century.
Once this position is abandoned, they fear that freedom of conscience will be gradually suppressed with new political demands: propaganda meetings, ideological courses, etc. By losing the moral strength to oppose all this, the faith risks being emptied from within.
As Jesuit priests in the historic missionary area of Shanghai age, the underground dioceses of Mindong (Fujian), Wenzhou (Zhejiang), and Fuzhou (Jiangxi) have become the “iron triangle” of underground Catholic resistance in the southeast.
After the 2018 provisional agreement between China and the Vatican on episcopal appointments, the first to be “converted” was Mgr Vincent Guo Xijin of Mindong; in 2022, Mgr Joseph Peng Weizhao was publicly installed as auxiliary bishop in Jiangxi. As a result, pressure on Wenzhou has increased.
According to another source, the division between the official and underground Church in Wenzhou dates back to the choices of the missionaries who returned in the 1980s. The two groups have developed in parallel, with similar numbers of faithful.
The Diocese of Wenzhou is now the largest in Zhejiang, with about 180,000-200,000 faithful, 46 official priests and over 20 underground ones.
Apart from one or two “external” priests who have been persuaded to join the official Church (one was “converted” in May), the remaining local priests firmly follow Bishop Shao.
There are also over 60 underground nuns who belong to the orders of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Little Sisters of Teresa. The three nuns who were recently arrested are members of these orders.
Bishop Shao has been detained several times over the years, often “sent on a trip” during Easter or Christmas to prevent him from celebrating Mass in public. This year, however, the pressure is more intense.
According to some, the government wants to take advantage of the transition period following the death of Pope Francis to boost its position in negotiations with the Vatican.
Since April, a far-reaching operation has begun: closure of underground places of worship, individual interviews with priests, threats to families.
Relatives of priests who work in the public sector are required to convince the religious to “convert”, under penalty of losing their jobs.
Many underground churches in the diocese have their own chapels and places of prayer, where the priests reside permanently. Since April this year, six local government departments (including the Religious Affairs Bureau and the Police) have conducted joint operations: either they accept the supervision of the CPCA and allow official priests to hold Mass, or they close these places and arrest those present.
Currently, all underground priests have been forced to leave their premises. One believer estimates that 90 per cent of underground places of worship have closed.
Some, such as the prayer centre in Yishan (Cangnan), have accepted an official priest so as not to lose the structure built with millions of yuan collected by believers. During Sunday Mass, however, very few accept communion.
Many believers, interviewed by telephone, say that the situation is too complicated and distressing, and that they have little information. Some say they were questioned for simply sharing the news of the bishop's arrest online three months earlier, suspected of being the source of the news for foreign media.
One was repeatedly threatened, but since there was no evidence, the intimidation failed, but it left him in great fear.
When asked what hopes he has for the new pope, an underground priest replied: “The Patriotic Association claims to obey the pope in doctrine, but in reality it decides everything with the government. They did not commemorate the death of Pope Francis, not even with an obituary. Everything they do is directed by the state.
“They even claim that the Association ‘saved’ the Church and opened ‘a new era of evangelisation’. They do not see the power of the Spirit, they despise the blood of the martyrs. Pope Francis saw our suffering, but he never said that we were right. This ambiguity sometimes even seemed to legitimise the Patriotic Association and this made us suffer a lot.”
Another priest added: “We know that the state interferes with the Church, and we do not accept it. But we cannot do anything about it. ‘Converting’ would mean accepting the interference of atheism, banning children from church, preventing young people from receiving catechism. Not converting means continuing to be pressured.
“The Vatican is silent, but promotes opportunists from the official Church, who gain visibility and recognition in both religious circles and political circles. The faithful see these ‘successes’ and ask us: Does it still make sense to resist? However, we want to follow our conscience. We hope that the new Pope Leo XIV will recognise the value of our fidelity.”
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