Groups says China arrests Catholic bishop, priests

In China, worship is confined to state-controlled churches

By staff and wire reports

BEIJING, China -- Chinese police arrested a 79-year-old underground Roman Catholic bishop along with several priests and lay Catholics in the week before Easter, it has been claimed.

Police arrested Shi Enxiang, the underground bishop of Yixian in the northern province of Hebei, on April 13 -- Good Friday -- while he was visiting Beijing, the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation said in a statement.

"While the Christians around the world were observing the holiest week of the year, the underground Roman Catholic Church in China suffered another assault from the Chinese government," foundation president Joseph Kung said in the statement.

Shi, ordained a bishop in 1982, had been in hiding since he escaped arrest in 1996, the statement said. He had spent a total of about 30 years in jail, most recently serving a three-year sentence from 1990-1993, it added.

Freedom of religion, not worship

China's constitution enshrines freedom of religion but worship is confined to state-controlled churches.

About 12 million Roman Catholics worship in underground churches and unofficial prayer meetings, the statement said.

The foundation said that police also arrested Li Jianbo, 34, a priest in Hebei's Mancheng county while he was in Xilinhot in the northern region of Inner Mongolia.

Another priest, Lu Genjun, 39, was sent to a labor camp for three years after his arrest shortly before Easter in Hebei's Baoding county, it added.

Authorities sentenced another priest in Hebei, surnamed Yin, to three years in a labor camp in April.

Police arrested two other priests on April 13, one in Fu'an in Fujian province and one in Fuzhou in Jiangxi province, along with 13 underground Catholic worshippers in Jiangxi.

The U.S. State Department's annual human rights report this year condemned Beijing's crackdown on underground Christians.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Chinese Foreign Ministry
Human Rights in China
Cardinal Kung Foundation

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