Officials Detain Two Unregistered Catholic Priests in Baoding, Hebei

March 31, 2006

Public security officials in Baoding city, Hebei province, detained Lu Genjun and Guo Yanli, both unregistered Catholic priests of the Baoding diocese, on February 17, according to a February 23 report of the Cardinal Kung Foundation (CKF), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China. Officials sent Guo to a detention center in Xushui county in Hebei province and sent Lu to an undisclosed location. For more than 10 years, the Chinese government has concentrated its effort to control the unregistered Catholic community on the unregistered Catholic clerics of the Baoding diocese. As of February 15, 17 of 41 Catholic clerics in prison, under house arrest, or under strict surveillance were from Baoding diocese, according to the CKF's list of Prisoners of Religious Conscience for the Underground Catholic Church in China.

Public security officials in Baoding city, Hebei province, detained Lu Genjun and Guo Yanli, both unregistered Catholic priests of the Baoding diocese, on February 17, according to a February 23 report of the Cardinal Kung Foundation (CKF), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China. Officials sent Guo to a detention center in Xushui county in Hebei province and sent Lu to an undisclosed location. For more than 10 years, the Chinese government has concentrated its effort to control the unregistered Catholic community on the unregistered Catholic clerics of the Baoding diocese. As of February 15, 17 of 41 Catholic clerics in prison, under house arrest, or under strict surveillance were from Baoding diocese, according to the CKF's list of Prisoners of Religious Conscience for the Underground Catholic Church in China.

Reports on religious persecution in Baoding indicate that the Chinese government has concentrated its effort to control unregistered Catholic clerics on Baoding in part because officials wish to prevent large gatherings of Catholic pilgrims. The village of Donglu, 25 miles from the city of Baoding, is the site of a Marian shrine to which thousands of Chinese Catholics formerly made pilgrimages in May and October. On May 23, 1995, some 30,000 Catholics claimed to have seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary at the Donglu shrine, according to a CKF report. In May 1996, the Chinese government detained Su Zhimin, the unregistered bishop of Baoding, destroyed the Donglu shrine, and undertook a major effort to prevent pilgrims from entering Donglu, according to a CKF report. In 2002, officials leveled the grave of Fan Xueyan, Su Zhimin's predecessor as unregistered bishop of Baoding, according to a 2002 Human Rights Watch report. In 2004, AsiaNews noted the continuing efforts of Catholics to make pilgrimages to Donglu and the Chinese government's continuing efforts to prevent them from doing so.

In 1997, officials again detained Su Zhimin, who had escaped and written an open appeal letter to the Chinese government, according to a CKF report. Although Su has been the frequent subject of official U.S. and international inquiry with the Chinese government since his 1997 detention, his whereabouts and condition remain unknown.

For more information on Catholics in China, see the CECC 2005 Annual Report, Section III(d).