China Detains Priests From Underground Catholic Church

Posted on August 7, 2007 Updated on August 2, 2007

BEIJING (AP) — A U.S. based monitoring group says four more priests from China’s underground Roman Catholic church have been detained by police.

The Cardinal Kung Foundation says three priests were detained Tuesday after fleeing their hometown to avoid arrest for refusing to join the state-sanctioned church, while the fourth priest was detained in early July.

China’s Catholics are allowed to worship only in churches run by a government-monitored group with no ties to the Vatican. But millions who remain loyal to the pope worship in secret “house churches.”

The Kung Foundation says five bishops from the underground Catholic church also are in jail. It urges the Chinese government to release all jailed believers and stop persecuting people of faith.

By Associate Press