Posted on 08/03/2006 4:29:47 PM PDT by NYer
Authorities in China's Hebei province have arrested more than 90 members of the "underground" Catholic Church, including Bishop Yao Liang, the Cardinal Kung Foundation reports.
Bishop Yao, the head of the Xiwanzi diocese, who had previously been taken into custody last March, was arrested on July 30. A priest of the same diocese, Father Li Huisheng, was arrested on August 1.
When some Catholic faithful protested the arrests, and asked for information about the whereabouts of the jailed clerics, policy mobilized a force of 500 to jail 90 members of the underground Church on August 2. The arrests followed a previous crackdown by Protestant "house churches" in the area, in which thousands of military police participated on July 29.
The Cardinal Kung Foundation reports that two men were hospitalized after the police raid, and one pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage. Most of the lay Catholics taken into custody have now been released, the Foundation said; but 20 remain imprisoned.
The Hebei province, surrounding Beijing, is a stronghold of the "underground" Catholic Church, and government officials have frequently conducted arrests and raids to discourage and intimidate the faithful.
Bishop Yao is the latest of several prelates from Hebei to suffer imprisonment. The AsiaNews service provides a rundown:
The bishop of the diocese of Baoding, Mgr James Su Zhimin, 72 years, was arrested in 1996 and has been missing since; His auxiliary, Mgr Francis An Shuxin, 54 years, met the same fate a year later; Mgr Han Dingxian, bishop of Yongnian, has been missing since the end of 2005 and Mgr Julian Jia Zhiguo, bishop of Zhengding, is always being kidnapped by public security officials. There are around 23 priests in prison too.
The persecution in China continues, unabated. Please remember these faithful prelates and laity, in your prayers.
Meet the force that is going to destroy the Beijing regime: the Holy Spirit, as proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church.
The Mandarins can arrest and torture and imprison all they wish, but in the end the result will be the same: Christianity will conquer China.
And later? India.
And then Islam.
Like water on a stone...
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As always, thanks for a great post.
I highly doubt Christianity will 'conquer' China, India, or Islam.
Christ conquers not through weapons of war, but from the softening of the human heart, as souls and lives are won through evangelism. Where there is Christ there is freedom - freedom from the curse of Adam.
Sooner or later, Christ will conquer all.
Actually, Jesus Christ has already conquered all.
All power is given to Him both in heaven and in earth...Matthew 28:18
The fulfillment of it is carried out day by day, according to God's timing.
(And I know you know this already...I just wanted to chime in my amen!)
That's what I was aiming at.
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