(ZENIT News / Wenzhou, 19.03.2025).- Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin was arrested, on the morning of March 6, by agents of the Chinese National Security Office for refusing to pay a 200,000 yuan fine, equivalent to US$27,000, for celebrating Mass on December 27, which was attended by 200 people, on the occasion of the opening of the Holy Jubilee Year.
Bishop Shao, who is 61, has refused to belong to the official Church controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. In 2007 Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop Coadjutor to succeed Monsignor Vincenzo Zhu Wei-Fang, who died in September 2016.
Wenzhu city has 1,42 million inhabitants and its metropolitan area is 9.6 million. It is located in the country’s south-east coast, on the southern bank of the mouth of the Ou River, surrounded by hills and mountains, so that it was isolated for a long time. Many inhabitants have emigrated to Europe and the United States.
The Authorities fined Monsignor Shao because the Mass, he celebrated, was illegal, according to article 71 of the Regulations of Religious Affairs, and represented “a serious crime.” The Bishop rejected the payment because the Church’s activities do not violate the law. According to the National Security Office, the detention will guarantee the Bishop’s safety. His whereabouts are unknown and his detention will be long lasting.
Because of his refusal to join the Patriotic Association, the Authorities do not accept Shao as Titular Bishop and consider the See vacant, supporting Father Ma Xianshi, a Patriotic priest, as the diocese’s leader. Monsignor Shao has suffered several arrests; the Church of Wenzhou is regarded as clandestine and has organized a prayer campaign to support him.
Monsignor Shao sent a letter to the diocese on February 25, inviting the faithful to pray for Pope Francis, to accompany him in the Mass and to pray the Rosary so that God will sustain him with His grace in his illness.
It is noteworthy that the National Security Office and the Department of Religious Affairs also interfered with a pilgrimage of several hundred Catholics, from the Cangnan parish in the Wenzhou jurisdiction, prohibiting their departure.
Every Sunday, for the past few years, plainclothes officers have entered the churches of the Wenzhou diocese to prevent any children or adolescents from entering. Recently, the National Security Office has delegated surveillance to local authorities in the diocese’s neighborhoods, guarding the churches from 7 a.m. until noon and also preventing priests from celebrating Mass.
