- Police in northeast China raided a religious retreat
and arrested about a dozen Roman Catholic clergymen while a church in the
vicinity was demolished, a US-based religious rights group said.
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- The 12 priests and seminarians were attending a retreat
on October 20 in Gaocheng county, in Hebei province's Shijiazhuang city,
when police swooped and took everyone into custody, the Connecticut-based
Cardinal Kung Foundation said in a statement.
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- The gathering was not sponsored by the government-sanctioned
"Patriotic Association," which oversees all state-approved churches
in China, the foundation said.
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- The clergymen are being held in a detention house in
Gaocheng county.
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- A staff member at the detention center told AFP Monday
the center was holding seven of the clergymen and that they had been detained
for seven days.
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- "They are charged with illegal assembly. I don't
know if they will be released soon," said the worker.
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- He did not provide information on the other people detained.
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- Among the arrested were Father Li Wenfeng, 31; Father
Liu Heng, 29; Father Dou Shengxia, 37; seminarian Chen Rongfu, 21; seminarian
Han Jianlu, 24 and seminarian Zhang Chongyou, 23.
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- Names of the others seized were unknown, the foundation
said.
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- Prior to the arrests, a Roman Catholic church in Liugou
village, also in Hebei province, was torn down by officials, the foundation
said.
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- The demolition could not immediately be confirmed and
the reason for the action was not known.
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- Some 150 parishioners belonged to the new church, the
foundation said, most of them new converts to Catholicism.
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- Foundation president Joseph Kung urged leaders of democratic
countries to protest the latest arrests in China's ongoing suppression
of religious freedom.
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- "During the entire 25 years of the pontificate of
Pope John Paul II, the Pope has repeatedly expressed his deep respect and
love for the Chinese people," Kung said in the statement.
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- "It does not appear that the Chinese government
respects the Pope with these consistent and harsh treatments of the Roman
Catholic Church in China. All leaders of the free countries should speak
out against these atrocious arrests of these innocent religious believers."
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- In July, five Catholic priests were arrested at Siliying
village, also located in Hebei province, about 115 kilometres (70 miles)
from Beijing.
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- The clergymen in their 20s and 30s were on their way
to visit a fellow priest who had just been released from a labor camp after
serving three years, the foundation said at the time.
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- China allows places of worship to operate if they are
affiliated with state registered "patriotic" organisations.
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- Nonetheless, millions worship at unofficial churches,
some of which are tolerated more than others.
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