PRESS RELEASE
March 23, 1997
Contact
Joseph Kung
The Cardinal Kung Foundation
Chinese Public Security Agents
Ransacked the Home of
the Underground Roman Catholic Coadjutor Bishop of Shanghai,and
Seized his Religious Goods and Money
Stamford, Connecticut,
USA - At approximately 8:30 PM on March 4, 1997, eight agents
from the Shanghai's Public Security Bureau ransacked the tiny
apartment where the 79 year old Bishop Joseph Fan Zhongliang,
SJ resides with his niece. Bishop Fan is the Coadjutor Bishop
of the underground Roman Catholic Diocese of Shanghai. The
security agents seized his bibles, missals, catechism, the Code
of Canon Law, breviaries, religious medals, rosaries, and other
religious books and articles. Additionally, they seized all his
funds amounting to $ 20,000 JMP (about US $ 2,500) which could be
the entire treasury of the underground Roman Catholic Diocese of
Shanghai. The search lasted three and one-half hours until
midnight. No reason was given and no receipt was issued.
Bishop Fan is now under close surveillance by the Public Security
agents in Shanghai.
His Eminence Ignatius Cardinal Kung (Gong), the Vatican
appointed Bishop of Shanghai, who currently lives in the United
States protested such actions as "violations of
China's constitution which guarantees citizens the rights to
religious freedom and to private property." In his
state of the world address on January 13, 1996, the Pope said: "A
persecuted believer will always find it difficult to have
confidence in a state which presumes to regulate his
conscience".
In the absence of Cardinal Kung, Bishop Fan is in charge of the
underground Roman Catholic Diocese of Shanghai. Bishop Fan was in
jail and labor camp for over 20 years as the result of his
refusal to join the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association which
was founded in 1957 by the Chinese Government to replace the
Roman Catholic Church. The Patriotic Association continues to
appoint its own bishops without Vatican's approval and to declare
its independence from the Pope. It is recognized by the
Government and is called the "official church". In his
speech on December 3, 1996, the Pope undoubtedly referred to
the Patriotic Association as "a church which does not
respond either to the will of the Lord Jesus, nor to the Catholic
faith".
Cardinal Kung Foundation, established in 1992, is an advocate of
the underground Roman Catholic Church in China. Two months ago on
January 10, 1997, the Foundation released an internal Chinese
communist document detailing procedures to destroy the
underground Roman Catholic Church. "The search and
seizure of Bishop Fan's property could well be a part of this
procedure to pre-empt any Easter celebrations in the underground
Catholic Church in Shanghai." said Joseph Kung, the
president of the Cardinal Kung Foundation.
"It is atrocious." adds Joseph Kung,
"The Chinese Government must abide by the international
standards of human rights". He appeals to the
bishops, religious superiors and lay-leaders of the Roman
Catholic Church along with the human rights conscious business
leaders in the free world "to be in solidarity with
Bishop Fan and with all other persecuted christians and other
religious believers to protest this barbarous act of the Chinese
Government and to appeal the authority to cease such religious
persecution. The seized property of Bishop Fan must be returned.
If the Chinese Government cannot even respect such a basic
principle, how could the governments and businesses in the free
world expect the Chinese Government to respect and honor any
other principles and agreements that the free world has entered
into with the Chinese Government?"
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