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_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Bishop Matthias Duan Yinming, RIP
Last bishop appointed by Holy See
The last Chinese bishop appointed by the Holy See, Bishop Matthias Duan Yinming of Wanxian, died on January 10 at the age of 92, the Fides news service reported. He had been hospitalized since last August.
The Chinese government issued a statement praising Bishop Duan as a man who was “loved and esteemed by all.” The government said he had “done much for China and for the Catholic Church in China.” But relations between the bishop and the Beijing government had not always been smooth. Bishop Duan spent 10 years in forced-labor camps after the Cultural Revolution.
Bishop Duan also defied the Communist regime by professing his unswerving loyalty to the Holy See. “I pray for the Pope every day: for his mission, his health and I ask the Holy Spirit to sustain the Pope’s service to humanity. I would also like to express to him my profound loyalty,” he told the Fides news service in an October 1998 interview. The bishop added: “We Chinese Catholics await in fidelity and prayer for his visit to China. The Pope has shown his great love and concern for the Church in China. We firmly hope he may one day come to visit our country.”
Earlier in that same year, the Chinese government had refused to let Bishop Duan Yinming and his Auxiliary Xu Zhixuan attend the Special Synod for Asia in Rome. Risking punishment for “maintaining relations with a foreign state,” Bishop Duan sent a fax message to Cardinal Jan Pieter Schotte, the president of the Synod, expressing his dismay over the government’s decision. Bishop Duan was also denied permission to travel to New Delhi in 1999, when Pope John Paul issued his post-synodal document Ecclesia in Asia.
Destruction of independent churches
Government defends latest move
A human-rights group complained in December that China’s Communist government had embarked on a campaign to destroy churches and temples that are not officially part of state-controlled associations. More than 1,200 churches have been destroyed in Zheijang province alone this year, according to the Hong Kong-based Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
The Beijing government defended its campaign, explaining that the churches were demolished because they were set up without permission. “It is clear that China has been carrying out a policy of protecting religious freedom,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters at a briefing in Beijing. “The normal religious activities and legal rights of religious organizations are under the protection of the government,” she said.
Back to Catholic World Report February 2001 Table of Contents