Cardinal Kung Foundation Petitions China to Release and Exonerate Imprisoned Catholic Clergy

March 25, 2005

The Cardinal Kung Foundation (CKF), a U.S.-based Catholic NGO focusing on persecution of the Church in China, called on the Chinese government in a March 23 open letter to release imprisoned Catholic clergy and exonerate them from all criminal charges. The timing of the letter, together with the use of the same prisoner list, associates the CKF petition with the campaign for the release of Catholic clerics in China that the Catholic news service AsiaNews is currently promoting.

AsiaNews began its campaign in early March, and in recent weeks a number of leading figures from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the European Parliament, and Christian news media organizations have supported it. The Kung Foundation originally reported on the detention or arrest of most of the persecuted clerics on the AsiaNews prisoner list.