Father LU Genjun, 42 years old, and Father CHENG Xiaoli, 40 years old, both underground Roman Catholic priests, were arrested on May 14, 2004 in An Guo, Hebei by Chinese government security policemen just before the two priests were to start classes for natural family planning and moral theology courses.
Father LU belongs to the underground Roman Catholic Diocese of Baoding, Hebei. He was previously arrested on Palm Sunday, April 5, 1998 for a short period and was arrested again shortly before Easter in 2001 and detained for three years in the Gao Yang County labor camp in Hebei. He was just recently released from the labor camp and arrested again. He was ordained in 1990. He is now detained in the police detention center of Dingzhou, Hebei.
Father CHENG Xiaoli belongs to the underground Roman Catholic Diocese of An Guo, Hebei. This diocese has been without a bishop since the death of its bishop, LIU Difeng, in the Chinese jail in Cheng De, Hebei in 1992. Father Cheng was ordained in 1991. We do not know where he is being detained at present.
Joseph Kung, the president of the Cardinal Kung Foundation, said: “Within one month between March and April 2004, two bishops, Bishop WEI Jingyi of Qiqihar, Heilongjiang and Bishop JIA Zhiguo of Zheng Ding, Hebei, were arrested, although both were released after a short time. In recent years, the Holy Sees has on numerous occasions shown its earnest desire to continue dialogue with the Chinese government. During the past 2 months, the spokesperson of the Pope expressed serious concern about the arrest of these two underground bishops. It is disappointing to see China again arrested these two underground priests within such a short time. The arrest of Father LU and Father CHENG is yet another in a litany of examples of the ongoing religious persecution in China. This proves that religious persecution is not something of the past even with the current booming Chinese economy.”
(This article courtesy of Cardinal Kung Foundation.)
