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CNS Story:
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CHINA-CRACKDOWN Aug-2-2007 (380 words) xxxi
News agency calls Chinese priests' arrest part of government crackdown
By Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- The late July arrest of three Catholic priests in China's Inner Mongolia region is part of a crackdown in several areas of the country against priests who are not part of the government-recognized Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, said a Rome-based news agency.
AsiaNews, an agency sponsored by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, said that at least 11 priests under arrest are experiencing harsher treatment since the publication June 30 of Pope Benedict XVI's letter to Chinese Catholics.
While showing a willingness to discuss church-state relations with the Chinese government, the pope's letter also insisted that Catholics should have full religious freedom, including the freedom to maintain normal contacts with the pope and the Vatican.
AsiaNews said its sources in China described as "a government answer to the pope's letter" the July 24 arrest of three priests in the Ximeng region of Inner Mongolia.
The three -- Fathers Liang Aijun, Wang Zhong and Gao Jinbao -- are from Xiwanzi in Hebei province.
AsiaNews said Aug. 2 that the three priests were "on mission" in Inner Mongolia, but the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation, which originally reported the priests' arrest July 28, said "they were hiding in Inner Mongolia in order to avoid the arrests, but they were finally hunted down by the security police."
AsiaNews said that before the pope's letter was published, but after its publication was announced, "the police decreed solitary confinement for several Hebei priests who had been held in labor camps."
The six priests, serving three-year sentences for "illegal religious activities," previously were allowed visits from their family members, who were permitted to bring clothing and food, AsiaNews said.
Priests imprisoned in other areas of the country also are facing harsher conditions, the agency said.
The Chinese government requires churches and prominent church leaders to register with the State Administration for Religious Affairs, and it still insists on not consulting the Vatican before bishops are named or elected. Some Catholic bishops and priests in China have refused to register with the government. The patriotic association acts as a liaison between the government and registered communities.
The recent papal letter called for unity between the registered and the clandestine Catholic communities.
END
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