One week after the official implementation of the new religious legislation in China, which has been widely criticised for threatening religious freedom, a Catholic-based news agency AsiaNews has initiated a campaign to protest the Chinese government for the liberation of 19 bishops and 18 priests arrested or kept from carrying out their ministry.

On 5th March, AsiaNews published a list of bishops held in prison or prevented from exercising their ministry, and priests who were arrested and sentenced to forced labour. The list was compiled on 1st March, but was not fully complete.

According to the list, six bishops were arrested without any specific reasons given, and others disappeared without a trace. Many have reportedly vanished under detention or have been locked up in labour and re-education camps. Their ages range from 50 to 83 and most of them are from the Hebei province.

Mgr James Su Zhimin of the diocese of Baoding, Hebei and Mgr Francis An Shuxin, auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Baoding, have been detained for the longest period - since 1996 and 1997 respectively. AsiaNews reported that the Chinese government has never mentioned anything about them despite pressure exerted by various international figures.

There are more than a dozen bishops that are kept from carrying out their ministry either because of surveillance by local authorities or physical sickness. In some of the worst cases, they were even allegedly subjected to brainwashing by the Chinese authorities. For example, the 68-year-old Mgr Julius Jia Zhiguo of Diocese of Zhengding, Hebei, has consistently undergone forced indoctrination regarding government policies over the past months.

There is also a list of 18 priests, some who have disappeared under detention; others who have been condemned to 3 or more years in labour camps. They have been convicted of things such as evangelising; participating in an ordination mass; anointing the sick; leading a spiritual retreat among many other things.

Scanning through the list, it is very obvious that the persecution in the Hebei Province has been very devastating. Other places of major concern are Zhejiang, Fujian, Henan and Shanghai. All the ecclesiastics on the list are neither terrorists, nor guerrillas, nor extremists. The only problem that might lead to persecution is that they are all part of the so-called "underground Church", according to AsiaNews.

These Churches have refused to register with the Patriotic Association, the organisation set up by the government to control the Church. Their purpose is not to challenge the government, but to demand religious freedom which is guaranteed by China's constitution, as well as to maintain fidelity to the Pope.

For the Chinese government, the relationship of the Catholic Church to the Pope is a sensitive issue. The National People's Congress has previously declared a ban on many religious or spiritual groups, including the Falun Gong movement and "churches loyal to Pope John Paul II". The legislation of church registration is also considered by many as part of the agenda to separate the relationship between the Church and the Pope.

AsiaNews, together with the Holy Spirit Study Centre of Hong Kong and various Christian communities and websites in Europe, have launched a petition and published the list just in time to coincide with the opening of the National People's Congress last Saturday. They decided to stand in line with many Chinese who tried to reach the 3,000 high-level NPC delegates in Tiananmen Square to call for religious freedom in the country.

The democracy and social policy in China have become a major concern for foreign investors in the 21st Century. However, as the China society continues to be shaken by tensions between police and the unemployed, between politics and villages, its breach of human dignity and social solidarity has been widely condemned.

Recently, a New York-based Human Rights watch dog released a report stating, "The Government in many areas intensified pressure against Protestant house churches and their leaders during the year."

In the light of the Olympic Games that is going to be hosted in Beijing in 2008, AsiaNews would also like to take the opportunity to make the voice of Chinese Christians heard by the whole world. The petition will be sent to both the National People's Congress and to the Olympic Committee to ask that the event be prepared also through the freeing of these martyrs of faith.

For a detailed list of the bishops and priest, please click here.