Underground Priest Released; two still in custody
Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Ucan) - One of three detained "underground" priests of Wenzhou diocese, (Zhejiang, eastern China), has been released. A Catholic source confirmed that public security officials freed Father Lu Xiaozhou on July 27 after keeping him in a guesthouse for 13 months.
They and religious affairs officials released the priest, after numerous requests from his relatives, so he could care of his sick parents, but they ordered that he remain under observation for two months, the source said.
Security officers seized Father Lu on June 16, 2003, as he was going to Wenzhou City Hospital to anoint the sick. Wenzhou, in Zhejiang province, is 1,416 kilometers southeast of Beijing.
Two other priests of Wenzhou diocese, Fathers Kong Guocun and Ding Zhaohua, are still being detained by government officials in guesthouses. Father Kong was detained in October 1999 and Father Ding in January 2001, during the Lunar New Year. Their relatives have also demanded their release, the source said. The three priests have been pressured to leave the underground community and join the Catholic Patriotic Association.
Meanwhile, clandestinely ordained Bishop James Lin Xili of Wenzhou has been confined to the cathedral of the government-recognized "open" Church and has had no freedom of movement since 1999. He is 84 years old and is reportedly suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which some Catholics blame on psychological torture during his detention.
A Church source said that when open Church people celebrated Bishop Lin's 60th anniversary as a priest in June, government officials forbade him to wear his bishop's vestments since they recognize him only as a priest. Allowing him to wear the bishop's vestments "would mean the government has endorsed him as a bishop," the source explained.
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05/09/2005
