Saturday, December 30, 2006

China Is Our Friend!! Part 55693

Oh what the Hell!! They're only Catholics...

AsiaNews, a missionary news service close to the Vatican, reported Friday that nine priests from the underground Catholic church in north China’s Hebei province were arrested by police Wednesday as they gathered to pray near the city of Baoding.

The report called the alleged arrests part of a campaign by the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association to subdue the underground church in Hebei, a traditional stronghold of Catholic sentiment in northern China.

AsiaNews said the province has some 1.5 million Catholics, most belonging to the unofficial church.

Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the association, said he had heard of no such arrests and denied there was a campaign under way to crush the church, which is loyal to the Pope.

“It would be impossible for our association to crack down on illegal or underground churches,” Liu said. “China has always provided education and assistance for underground priests.”

...and that "education and assistance" has been delivered in what we call "concentration camps" or "prisons."

How very ...considerate...of the PRChinese slavemasters.

This should not interfere with MFN/PNTR status or WallyWorld/Wal-Mart purchasing decisions.

Not at all.

No comments: