Security officials in China have detained a number
of underground Church leaders from Tianshui diocese in the northwestern
Gansu province, reports ucanews.com.
They include diocesan
administrator Father John Baptist Wang Ruohan; retired Bishop Casmir
Wang Milu; Father John Wang Ruowang; as well as several other priests
and dozens of parish lay leaders.
Bishop Wang and the two Father Wangs are brothers.
Local Church sources believe they are being held separately at several locations.
Since being questioned, they have been ordered to attend study
sessions for four hours a day, while the lay leaders have been allowed
to phone their families, the sources said.
Tianshui's diocese's underground community, which has no affiliation
with the government-sanctioned "open" Church, has maintained a peaceful
relationship with government officials in recent years.
Sources suspect the latest incident may relate to the creation of a
new bishop for the diocese - listed as a priority undertaking in a
report published by the Communist Party's Gansu United Front Work
Department last year.