Pope Rejoices Over Release of Chinese Bishop

(July 15, 2010) Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, sent a message to Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, the underground bishop of the Diocese of Zhengding, to express Pope Benedict XVI's joy over his release. Seventy five year old Bishop Jia is a member of the "underground" Church, but has worked for reconciliation of the Church in China, where the government permits religious practice only with recognized personnel and in places registered with the Religious Affairs Office and under the control of the Patriotic Association. The bishop was released July 7, after 15 months of detention. In fact, it was the 13th time that he was arrested since 2004. In his letter to the prelate, Cardinal Dias said that he "received with great pleasure the news that Your Excellency has returned to his See. The news fills me with joy. The Holy Father sends you and your faithful a special apostolic blessing." According to sources the last detention of the bishop was to "put an end to the Vatican's intentions to reconcile the 'official' Church recognized by the Communist Party and the underground Church of Hebei, the region with the largest number of Catholics." In fact, Bishop Jia has already reconciled himself with Bishop Jang Taoran of Shijiazhuang -- the "official" diocese and has met him several times. During all these detentions, he was segregated and subjected to political indoctrination so that he would become part of the Catholic Patriotic Association, organization of the Communist Party that wishes to erect a national church with no relation to the Holy See.