The U.S. Bishops’ Conference (USCCB) has echoed a summons calling for a special week of prayer for the people of China, in particular for Christians living there.
“In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI designated May 24, the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, as the Worldwide Day of Prayer for the Church in China,” notes a statement on the USCCB website.
“This past March, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, archbishop of Yangon (Myanmar) and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, called for the expansion of the day of prayer to a Week of Prayer for the Church in China to be observed May 23-30, 2021,” it adds.
Cardinal Bo “asked that prayers be offered not only for the Church, but ‘to protect all humanity and therefore the dignity of each and every person in China,’” reads the statement, signed by Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.
“Recognizing China’s growing global power, Cardinal Bo has expressed his hope that through these prayers, China ‘may become a force for good and a protector of the rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized in the world,’” the text states.
Last June, the U.S. Bishops published a searing communiqué calling out the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its egregious violations of religious liberty, measures that adversely affect all believers.
“Under the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese citizens have limited religious freedom,” the bishops lamented. “Since 2013, religious persecution has intensified under a government campaign for the ‘sinicization’ of religion — an effort to have religions conform to government-sanctioned interpretations of Chinese culture.”
“While the Vatican has reached a provisional agreement with China on the issue of episcopal appointments, reports of persecution by the Chinese government persist as underground churches are closed and their priests detained, crosses destroyed, bibles confiscated, and children under 18 forbidden from attending Mass and receiving religious instruction,” the bishops said.
Along with the sufferings of persecuted Christians, the bishops also highlighted the situation of Muslim minorities in China, particularly the Uighurs in the Xinjiang region.
“Muslims have suffered grievous human rights abuses,” the bishops wrote. “Since 2017, 800,000 to possibly two million ethnic Uighur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Hui Muslims have been arbitrarily detained in mass internment camps.”
Cardinal Bo also released a statement last summer noting that in China, “the Uyghur Muslims are facing what amounts to some of the contemporary world’s worst mass atrocities and I urge the international community to investigate.”
In showing their support for the prayer campaign, the U.S. bishops urge an outpouring of prayer for the people of China.
“In unity and great love, let us join with the Church universal in our prayers to Our Lady Help of Christians, for China,” the statement concludes.
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