Chinese Catholics said Tuesday that three bishops had gone missing or
been detained in an apparent attempt to force them to take part in a
state-sanctioned ordination.
Workers at three dioceses in southern
China's Guangdong province told AFP their bishops had disappeared in a
move that appeared to be linked to a state-sanctioned ordination due to
take place in a nearby city on Thursday.
The Vatican and Beijing
have not had formal diplomatic ties since 1951 and tensions between the
two have risen considerably over the issue of state-sanctioned
ordinations.
China's 5.7 million Catholics are increasingly caught
between showing allegiance to the Chinese Patriotic Catholic
Association (CPCA) that controls the state-backed church, or to the Pope
as part of an "underground" Church.
The three bishops -- Liao
Hongqing of Meizhou, Su Yongda of Zhanjiang and Gan Junqiu of Guangzhou
-- were loyal to the Pope, according to a report from the Catholic news
agency AsiaNews.
The report said a fourth bishop, Joseph Junqi of
Guangzhou, was also missing, although a local source told AFP he was
attending the ordination voluntarily.
A Meizhou church member who
refused to be named told AFP Liao was "taken away" by police "because he
is being forced to participate in the ordination."
Su, meanwhile,
was detained on Sunday by local religious bureau officials, while Gan
has not been seen for a week, other church members said.
Liu Bainian, vice head of the CPCA, said he had not heard of this.
Foreign
ministry spokesman Hong Lei said he had no knowledge of the bishops'
disappearance, adding that China's Catholic community ordained bishops
"in accordance with the principles of independence, self-reliance and
self-governance."
"This is a vivid demonstration of the freedom of religious belief," he told reporters at a regular briefing.
Earlier
in July, the Holy See excommunicated an "illegitimate" Chinese bishop
and in May the Pope called on all bishops to "refuse to take the path of
separation" in spite of "pressure" from the communist authorities.
But China has ignored these appeals and announced last month it hoped to ordain 40 bishops "without delay".