Chinese authorities have closed both Catholic seminaries in Shanghai diocese, apparently in retaliation for newly ordained Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin’s public resignation from the state-sponsored Catholic Patriotic Association.
Coadjutor Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, the head of Shanghai’s “open” church, issued a notice to Sheshan Major Seminary and Tailaiqiao Minor Seminary stating classes had been delayed “until further notice”. The notice simply said the decision was due to the “current situation”.
Of the two Shanghai seminaries, the regional seminary of Sheshan accepts seminarians from the five nearby provinces that make up the central eastern region of China as well as from Shanghai, a self-administered municipality.
The notice came a few days after the state-sponsored church removed Sister Agnes Liu Shujing from her post as superior general of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Presentation. She had delayed in passing on the Patriotic Association’s order that all sisters had to attend the ordination ceremony, because she knew an illicit bishop would be present.
Bishop Ma was ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai on July 7, with the approval of the Holy See. Immediately after the ordination, the 45-year-old bishop was placed under house arrest at the Sheshan seminary.
Bishop Ma is still in confinement and not permitted to wear bishop’s garb or exercise his episcopal ministry. “He looked pale and thin,” said a source who saw him recently.
Government officials have questioned more than 100 diocesan priests and nuns who were absent from the ordination. They were asked about their reasons for not attending and their opinions on the ordination and Bishop Ma’s speech in which he resigned from the Patriotic Association.
One bishop told AsiaNews: “What is happening in Chinese society is also happening in the Catholic Church: the government has lost control of the masses and the people’s trust. The faithful no longer pay any attention to the Patriotic Association, it no longer counts.”
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Image: UCA News