The 61-year-old Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou – without permission from the authorities – had urged each parish to gather to study and reflect on the Pope’s bull of indiction for the Jubilee and to recite the prayer of the Holy Year every day at the end of Mass. He designated each church in the diocese a place in which to make the Jubilee pilgrimage.
The authorities imposed a fine of ¥200,000 (£22,000) and also threatened to demolish the house and chapel where he lives because of such “illegal activities”.
Bishop Shao is not recognised by the Chinese government, because he refused to register with the state-sponsored Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA). He was ordained coadjutor bishop with a papal mandate in 2011 and succeeded his predecessor upon his death in September 2016.
However, he has never obtained recognition from the authorities who consider the see “vacant” and support a CCPA-sponsored leader instead. Bishop Shao has been repeatedly arrested in recent years, usually in conjunction with solemnities, to prevent Catholics from participating in occasions where he presides.
Other bishops and priests who refuse to register with the CCPA – such as Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin of Xiapu in the province of Fujian – have faced similar challenges from the authorities.
The 2018 agreement between the Vatican and China on the appointment of bishops (a provisional agreement which has been renewed three times) was intended to regularise the underground Church in China and bring the CCPA hierarchy into communion with Rome.
Buddhist establishments in China have also faced increased restrictions. Radio Free Asia reported that the authorities expelled more than 1,000 Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns from the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Sichuan Province in late 2024, citing a lack of proper residency documentation.
Residential accommodation was demolished at the site of the largest Tibetan Buddhist study centre in the world in Eastern Tibet.
Critics said the evictions aimed to undermine Tibetan religion and culture. The Chinese authorities said that numbers needed to reduce from 6,000 to 5,000.
Larung Gar has faced systematic restrictions over recent years, including in 2001 and 2016-2017, when thousands of residential structures were demolished and numerous monks and nuns forcibly evicted.