Reuters: Two Nuns in Vatican’s HK-based Quasi-diplomatic Mission Arrested in Mainland China, Top Clergyman in the City Censors Protest from within the Church
A long investigative report published by Reuters on December 31 quotes a source as saying that that two nuns in an informal, Hong Kong-based diplomatic mission from the Vatican had been arrested on a visit to their hometowns in mainland China. The report says they were later placed under house arrest and prohibited from leaving the country. Some senior members of the Holy See consider the incident a sign that China wishes to have the mission closed, and top clergymen in Hong Kong believe Beijing is expanding its control over the diocese and even attempting to influence the selection of the next bishop.
The report also quotes four unnamed informed sources as saying that the current leader of the diocese and the apostolic administrator, Cardinal John Tong Hon, has been suppressing progressive voices in the church, including that coming from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission. Last October, the diocese, headed by Cardinal Tang, censored a statement from the commission on Sino-Vatican relations, removing a part concerning the missing Bishop James Su Zhimin of mainland China’s underground church.
Source: The Stand News #Dec31
#Vatican #HongKong #China #CatholicChurch #Relgiion #ReligiousFreedom
https://bit.ly/3i8JdIN
A long investigative report published by Reuters on December 31 quotes a source as saying that that two nuns in an informal, Hong Kong-based diplomatic mission from the Vatican had been arrested on a visit to their hometowns in mainland China. The report says they were later placed under house arrest and prohibited from leaving the country. Some senior members of the Holy See consider the incident a sign that China wishes to have the mission closed, and top clergymen in Hong Kong believe Beijing is expanding its control over the diocese and even attempting to influence the selection of the next bishop.
The report also quotes four unnamed informed sources as saying that the current leader of the diocese and the apostolic administrator, Cardinal John Tong Hon, has been suppressing progressive voices in the church, including that coming from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission. Last October, the diocese, headed by Cardinal Tang, censored a statement from the commission on Sino-Vatican relations, removing a part concerning the missing Bishop James Su Zhimin of mainland China’s underground church.
Source: The Stand News #Dec31
#Vatican #HongKong #China #CatholicChurch #Relgiion #ReligiousFreedom
https://bit.ly/3i8JdIN