Persecution of the Catholic Church.

Beijing--The persecution of individual Catholics, especially priests and bishops, continues. It is even becoming worse and bolder--at a time when China is making significant economic progress, when it has joined the World Trade Organization, and when China is working toward becoming an important member of the international community. China professes to fight terror, but instills terror in the hearts and minds of its religious believers--and this at a time when the Chinese government will be hosting the Olympic Games in 2008.

Certain members of the Catholic Patriotic Association (the organization that is officially recognized by the Chinese government) co-operate with the government to seek out and force underground priests and parishioners to join the Association. Those who refuse to collaborate with the government, or to act as spies, are arrested or denied employment, and those who have small businesses are forced to close down.

Priests and bishops of the underground Catholic Church continue to be arrested, tortured and imprisoned, or placed under house arrest. It is common for imprisonment to continue over most of the life of a priest or bishop. And those who are released are forced to eke out a meagre living, often in very poor health and with constant harassment from the government. Yet, they live with hope. Upon the installation of Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, the underground Catholic Church sent him a message: "The underground Roman Catholic community in China sends their prayers, love and fidelity to the Vicar of Christ on earth, Pope Benedict XVI."

Recently, underground bishops faithful to Rome were forced to attend illicit ordinations in the Patriotic Association in order to give legitimacy to the proceedings. The Vatican says these ordinations are "a grave wound to the unity of the Church and a grave violation of religious freedom."

Cardinal Zen of Hong Kong, who recently tendered his resignation to the Vatican upon turning 75, is a bit more optimistic in his views about the Patriotic Association. He said, "Catholics in China are united in "fundamentally one Church despite government restrictions. They're separate ... but only in respect to the policies of the government." He insists that when the Chinese government realizes that it does not have to control every activity of its citizens, "that will be the day that our problems will be solved" (Catholic News Service, Oct. 15, 2006).

Beijing severed relations with the Holy See in 1951, two years after Mao came to power. (For more information on the Catholic Church in China, see www.cardinalkungfoundation.org.)