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CHINA-RELEASE Aug-28-2006 (420 words) xxxi
China releases underground bishop after 10 years in prison
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- After 10 years in prison, an underground Chinese bishop has been released and has received government permission to carry out his pastoral duties without registering with the country's state-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
Chinese authorities freed 57-year-old Auxiliary Bishop Francis An Shuxin of Baoding in Hebei province Aug. 24. The bishop had been arrested in 1996 following a government-ordered raid on the diocese's underground seminary, which he headed.
According to an Aug. 26 report by the Italian-based missionary news agency, AsiaNews, Bishop An was released because he accepted government recognition for being a Catholic bishop in China. He did not have to become a member of the government-approved patriotic association, which rejects papal authority and elects bishops without Vatican approval.
The U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation said in an Aug. 24 statement that the bishop now has a work permit to serve as a Catholic bishop and to carry out his pastoral duties in China. Bishop An is still under surveillance, the statement added.
According to AsiaNews, China's new arrangement of offering government recognition without having to join the patriotic association had been suggested by the Vatican in an effort to free jailed bishops and priests. It also helps integrate the official state-sanctioned church and the underground church, which the government still considers illegal, AsiaNews said.
The Catholic Church in China includes three communities: underground Catholics, whose members are not approved by the government; members of the patriotic association, who reject papal authority and are not approved by the Vatican; and members of the so-called open church, approved by the Vatican and the government. In some areas of China, the communities mingle; in other areas, underground Catholics still face persecution.
Joseph Kung, head of the Cardinal Kung Foundation, said in the Aug. 24 press statement that Bishop An's release was "a good sign."
He said he hoped it marked the start of the release of other jailed prelates, which "would show China's sincerity about improving its relationships with the Vatican and its human rights policy."
The bishop told AsiaNews he had been "treated well" during his imprisonment despite reports from some prelates that they had been tortured during their internment in Hebei.
At least six more underground bishops of Hebei, including 74-year-old Bishop James Su Zhimin of Baoding, are presumed to still be in Chinese prisons.
No word on the condition or whereabouts of the prelates has been given since their arrests.
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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