Photo: The Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (source: 猫猫的日记本)
(Shanxi province—March 3, 2023) The police of Datong, Shanxi province, demolished the residences used by priests and nuns of the local Catholic diocese. The historic Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was temporarily spared.
Why the Cathedral was spared
The cathedral and abbey have a 100-year history with all adequate permits. However, the buildings in question were located in high-priced areas of the city. The church has been spared for the time being: due to its size, its demolition would cause a stir, even at the international level.
A video released by AsiaNews showed believers of the church holding banners and praying together to change the mayor’s mind.
Diocese without a bishop
Catholics of Datong posted on the Chinese social platform WeChat, calling on everyone to pray for an end to the mayor’s unreasonable actions. The diocese has been without a bishop since 2005: Datong is one of the “official” dioceses recognized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The last Bishop was Bishop Thaddeus Guo Yingong, who is deeply admired and loved by the priests of the diocese. Bishop Guo was ordained Bishop of Datong in 1990. Bishop Guo personally founded the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the first diocesan religious order of the Datong Diocese. He passed away in 2005; Bishop Guo was subjected to 13 years of forced labor during the Cultural Revolution.
In November 2018, the diocese’s religious order issued an open letter condemning the introduction of the newly introduced Regulations on Religious Affairs. The government’s crackdown on the Christian community was getting more and more intense – among those were crosses being forcibly removed, churches being destroyed, church gatherings being forced to be reduced to a minimum, and required religious books could not be purchased.
Vatican agreement
The signing of the China-Vatican agreement was renewed in October 2020 and again in October 2022; it did not stop the government from suppressing Catholics in China, especially underground Catholics.
The incident in the diocese of Datong is not the only case involving the destruction of Catholic shrines or properties. China has been campaigning continuously for years to remove Catholic and Protestant crosses, church buildings, paintings, and statues that are overly distinct and deemed “too westernized”: the forced removal of symbols such as crosses is officially recognized by the government as ways of “sinicization” and “in line with Chinese characteristics.”
Continued persecution
The China-Vatican Agreement has yet to be effective in improving religious freedom in China. Last November, the Holy See condemned the Chinese authorities for appointing bishops in violation of the Agreement and arbitrarily ordained John Peng Weizhao as auxiliary bishop of the Jiangxi diocese. But on the other hand, despite the many vacancies in the Chinese dioceses, no episcopal ordination ceremony has been held in China since September 8, 2021.
~Gao Zhensai, Special Correspondent ChinaAid
