+ 찬미 예수님!

맏이이신 예수님을 따르고 있는 중국 사제들과 형제들, 교황님의 요청대로 박해 받고 있는 이분들을 위해 기도 드립니다.

지하 교회를 이끌던, 투옥된 중국 사제들

                                                                        11/19/2013 16:45
중국의 지하 교회를 이끌어 오던 두 사제가 지난 10월 초 이후 감옥에 투옥되어 있습니다.

그들은 바오딩 시(허베이 성)에서 가까운 퀸양(Qinyuan)에서, 성인들을 대상으로 조직화 된 교리교육 강의를 한 것에 대해 유죄 판결을 받았습니다.

티안 다롱(Fr. Tian Dalong) 사제가 그 중 한 분이고, 다른 한분의 신원은 알려지지 않았으며 두분 모두 40대입니다.

그들은 체포되어 바오딩의 경찰 막사에 구금되어 있으며 이 지역은 가장 큰 비공공 커뮤니티 중 한곳입니다.

이 사제들의 목회활동을 돕던 네 명의 평신도에게는 각각 4천 위안(약 400 유로, 한화 약 48만원) 의 강제 벌금이 물려졌으며 이는 숙련된 노동자의 두달치 이상에 해당되는 금액입니다.

아시아뉴스에 따르면, 이와 비슷한 상황에 처한 사제가 최소한 10명이며, 일부는 수년간의  laojiao("노동을 통한 개혁"이라는 강제 노동 수용소) 선고를 받기까지 했습니다.

이러한 최근의 체포에서 중요한 점은 '제 3차 중국 공산당 총회' 몇 주후에 발생했다는 것이며, 이 총회에서 지도자들이 "획기적인 개혁"을 강하게 선언하였다는 것입니다.

» 11/19/2013 16:45
CHINA - VATICAN
Two priests from underground Church in prison. Doubts about Xi Jinping’s "unprecedented" reforms
by Bernardo Cervellera
The two young priests gave catechism classes to adults in Qinyuan . Faithful who helped them are fined. Some Catholics hope that the concentration of power in the National Security Council will lessen patriotic association’s power and enhance religious freedom. Others fear the situation will worsen because reforms reaffirm the Communist Party monopoly of power.

Rome (AsiaNews) - Two priests from the underground Church are in prison since early October. They are "guilty" of having organized catechism classes for adults in the town of Qinyuan , near Baoding (Hebei ). The two men are Fr. Tian Dalong and another priest whose identity is unknown to AsiaNews, both in their 40s.  They were arrested and isolated in police barracks in Baoding, an area with one of the largest non-official communities. Four lay faithful, who helped the priests in their pastoral activities have been forced to pay a fine of 4 thousand yuan each (about 400 EUR ) , accounting for more than two months' salary of a skilled worker.

According to AsiaNews sources, there are at least 10 priests in similar conditions, some have even been sentenced to the laojiao (forced labor camps for "reform through labor") for years. What is important about these latest arrests is that they took place just weeks after the Third Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party, a meeting which the leadership loudly proclaimed would produce "unprecedented" reforms.

The world media, coached by Xinhua's carefully controlled reports, have praised these possible reforms, focusing on the economic novelties: a gradual reduction of government influence in the economy; promotion of private investment and foreign tax reform, the elimination of mandatory residence visas ( hukou ) for migrants; reform of the one-child law, etc ...

AsiaNews has presented these aspects also showing the ambiguities (see here, here, here and here).

Chinese Catholics are wondering if the plenum will bring more hope of freedom for Catholics and for religious freedom in general. These questions focus on the future function of the new National Security Council launched by the Plenum as an example of the new reform .

According to Xinhua, the National Security Council ( NSC ) should "perfect the national security system and  strategy, guaranteeing the nations security". The few explanations on how the NSC would function were given by Xi Jinping, who stated that the new body should "strengthen the unity of the leadership in state security", making "national security and social stability preconditions for reform and development " (Xinhua , 15/11/2013 ) .

Several experts think that "the unity of the leadership in state security" means that the NSC will be a superior power to the army, the police, the intelligence services and the judiciary, which should ensure social stability and internal relations with foreign countries.

Some Catholics in the north and east of China believe this concentration of power in the hands of the central government , and perhaps the same Xi Jinping, will promote religious freedom. Very often, the imprisonments, the expropriation of church land, the arrests of priests and faithful depend on the decisions of local leaders, who have no qualms in ignoring national regulations on religion . In addition, strengthening central power could weaken the Ministry of Religious Affairs - currently among the most Stalinist government offices - and patriotic associations.

As proof of a certain relaxation of control in the peripheries, Catholics are quoted as saying that the police leave underground communities room to breathe, are concerned about the health of the bishops (for fear of having to face a more serious crises in the case of an appointment ), maintain dialogue (perhaps to control) with underground priests .

Instead other believers in Beijing and central China say that "nothing has changed" and that the situation is always the same: underground priests are imprisoned (such as the two mentioned above); meetings among the faithful are banned; the Patriotic Association's control is absolute. If you add to this the list of bishops that have disappeared in police custody over the years, the bishop of Shanghai still under house arrest, control over other bishops (even official ones), their conclusion is understandable: "So far, nothing has changed.  We'll see in a few months time if there is a change of policy. Anyway, this will depend on the idea of ​​reform that leadership has in mind : the concentration of all power in the hands of a few may even worsen the situation. "

According to the activist Hu Jia , the concentration of power "may be used against human rights defenders, those who support the universal values ​​and freedom of speech and religion - people who the Party can not tolerate because they see them as a threat to government. "

This is confirmed by the Xinhua reports on the final document of the third Plenum (The final official version of which has yet to be released) reiterates that all the reforms serve to reinforce the Chinese Communist Party's monopoly of power.