underground church

Officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have arrested the bishop of Xinxiang along with 10 priests, in an apparent attempt to apply further pressure to the illegal underground Catholic Church, Asianews reported Monday.

Security officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forcibly carried off three underground Catholic priests and more than a dozen nuns and seminarians last Monday in Baoding, according to local sources.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Monday reported China’s underground churches used digital resources to commemorate the Easter holiday during a time of coronavirus emergency and heightened government repression.

Human-rights website Bitter Winter reported on Monday that over 300 Protestant churches were shut down by the Chinese government in 2019 in a war on religious liberty that continues unabated during the coronavirus pandemic.

Communist party officials have notified a diocese in China’s southeastern Jiangxi province that they will soon demolish the underground church of the Annunciation because of the failure of its pastor to join the state-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association.

The city of Guangzhou in southern China is offering a substantial cash reward, worth about $1,500 in U.S. dollars, to citizens who report “illegal religious activities” and help the authorities crack down on underground churches. Warm approval for the program by Chinese media suggests the practice will spread to other cities as the Communist Party works to “Sinicize” – in other words, subdue and control – all religions.

A recently released underground Chinese bishop has suspended a priest for joining the state-run Patriotic Catholic Association and promoting a false “communion” between the underground Church and the open Catholic community.

Communist officials have replaced two underground Gansu province parish priests who were accused of holding a summer camp for a youth group at their church.

Bishops of China’s state-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) have told dioceses to draft local versions of a national “Sinicization” program to bring the Catholic Church into line with the ideals of the Communist party.

Life is perilous for North Korea’s underground Christian community, especially since their children have been taught that Christianity is an evil subversive force that threatens the noble and pure Communist state, and Christian parents have every reason to fear their kids will rat them out.

The Vatican’s Foreign Minister said that the two principles of “Sinicization” and “inculturation” are the key to the future of Christianity in China, as the Vatican reportedly draws nearer to a historic agreement with the Chinese government.

A group of Catholics in Hong Kong has expressed “shock” and “disappointment” over the Vatican’s reported plans to enter into an agreement with the Chinese government over the appointment of bishops and the status of the state-approved Catholic Patriotic Association.

In a troubling new open letter to the media, the redoubtable Cardinal Joseph Zen, China’s highest ranking Catholic prelate, has accused the Vatican of “selling out” the Church by caving in to demands of the Communist leaders.

In one of its more drastic moves to date, China’s ruling Communist Party has issued notices warning Christian parents not to take their children to church or they “will be dealt with severely.”

In a rare move, the Vatican expressed its displeasure with the Chinese government Monday for the recent disappearance of Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou.

In its latest attack on thriving Christian churches, China’s Communist party has issued an ultimatum to parents that if children do not stop attending church, they will be barred from attending college or entering the military.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping continues to tighten the Communist Party’s grip on religious practice, more and more Christians are opting out of the official, state-recognized church and heading underground. Some six million Catholics have refused to join churches recognized

As Communist China continues to tighten restrictions on religious practice, more and more believers are opting out of official, state-sanctioned religious organizations and moving their faith underground, according to recent reports. Frustration among China’s hundreds of millions of religious believers

Pope Francis said that on hearing the news of the passing of Cardinal Korec, he was moved with “deep emotion” and sorrow, calling him “a generous and zealous shepherd who in his long ministry in the Church offered a fearless witness of the Gospel” and was a “staunch defender of the faith and human rights.” The pontiff sent a telegram of condolences to the President of Slovakia’s bishops’ conference.

The Communist government of Shanghai has mandated that Catholic priests and nuns of the diocese undergo “reeducation” classes on the central theme of the National Congress of the Communist Party.

Cardinal Joseph Zen has denounced China’s central government for concealing information about the fate of Cosmas Shi Enxiang, a 94-year-old underground Catholic bishop who was taken prisoner in 2001 and who is now rumored to be dead.