Chinese Bishop Jia Arrested Again

ZHENG DING, China, JULY 22, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Bishop Julius Jia Zhi Guo of the underground Catholic Church was arrested twice in one month by government officials, says a U.S.-based watchdog group.

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The bishop was arrested July 4 when two government officials took him away from his home in the Diocese of Zheng Ding, in the province of Hebei. He was then released July 7, according to the Connecticut-based Cardinal Kung Foundation.

Last Monday, at 7 a.m., two security officials took the bishop away again, according to Joseph Kung, president of the foundation.

«We understand that the bishop has been obliged by the government to go on some sort of tour, but we do not know where he has gone or for how long,» Kung added.

Bishop Jia, 71, was previously in prison for some two decades and has been under strict surveillance for many years.

As «non-official» bishop of Zheng Ding, he has headed one of the liveliest dioceses of Hebei, the province with the largest concentration of Catholics, numbering some 1.5 million.

This is the seventh time that Bishop Jia has been arrested since January 2004.

The underground Church in China, which professes loyalty to Rome, does not have Beijing’s approval.

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ZENIT Staff

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