WENZHOU, China (LifeSiteNews) — Once again, a bishop of the Underground Church in China has been arrested by the communist authorities for offering an “illegal” Mass in public.
As reported by AsiaNews, on March 7 Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin was arrested by Chinese security police and taken into custody, with his current whereabouts unknown.
Shao had been served a fine of 200,00 Chinese yuan ($27,500) for holding a public Mass on December 27, which was to celebrate the opening of the Jubilee Year of 2025 inaugurated in Rome by Pope Francis on December 24.
However Shao, the underground Church’s bishop of the Diocese of Wenzhou, refused to pay the fine – according to AsiaNews. He argued that the Mass, attended by 200 people, did not violate the law and was not subject to penalties.
The Chinese government authorities described his arrest as being for his “safety,” thus continuing the trend of a number of his previous arrests, including occasions when the police have described his arrests as being for “tourism” or “vacation.”
According to AsiaNews, Shao’s condition and location are unknown, and in the meantime Chinese authorities have increased their preventative measures against members of the underground Church in the region.
The 61-year-old Shao was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Yongjia (Wenzhou) in 2011, with a papal mandate. He was then made bishop of the diocese in 2016 following the death of Bishop Vincent Zhu Wei-Fang.
One of the chief demarcations between state church – the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) – and the “underground” Church remaining loyal to Rome has been the state-approved church’s implementation of “sinicization,” the process of Chinese government state-assimilation and control.
Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong has repeatedly warned that the Chinese government looks to exert total control over the Church in the nation, separating it from the authority of Rome and implementing communism.
Zen and China-experts warn that Sinicization involves having “all religious communities be led by the Party, controlled by the Party, and support the Party.”
Since his acceding to the see, Shao has been taken away by the CCP authorities multiple times, due to his opposition to the state-approved church which does not recognize him.
The first abduction took place in 2016, meaning that Bishop Shao was unable to attend the funeral of his predecessor. In 2017, Shao was once more taken by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities, and only released after seven months, after a campaign of prayer and fasting among Chinese Catholics, and the intervention of the German ambassador to China.
Prior to this month, he has been arrested around seven times by CCP authorities.
The timing of his arrests has previously been described as “almost scientific,” as they “always occur on the eve of important periods in the life of the Catholic communities: Christmas, Easter, the Assumption, and now November, the month of prayer for the dead (in Chinese tradition, Qingming, the remembrance of the ancestors, is instead celebrated in spring),” commented AsiaNews in 2021.
Since the CCP does not recognize Shao as a legitimate bishop, they have appointed Father Ma Xianshi of the CCPA in charge of the Wenzhou diocese.
However Shao appears to be a figure who is respected even outside of the “underground” Church, being reportedly “appreciated” by Catholics in the state-approved church.
Members of the underground Church in Wenzhou have issued a call for prayers for their bishop following his arrest.
Wenzhou has seen a particular crackdown on the underground Church at the hands of the Chinese government.
READ: Pope Francis said Chinese Catholics will ‘suffer’ under his deal. They are
But according to experts, such persecution has only increased following, and as a direct result of, the Vatican’s controversial deal with China.
First signed in 2018, the officially secret deal has been renewed in 2020, 2022, and most recently in October for a longer period of four years. The text has always remained secret, with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin attesting in 2023 that such secrecy was “because it has not yet been finally approved.”
The arrangement is believed to recognize the state-approved church in China and allows the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to appoint bishops. The Pope apparently maintains veto power, although in practice it is the CCP that has control. It also allegedly allows for the removal of legitimate bishops to be replaced by CCP-approved bishops.
But the deal has led to a heightened increase in religious persecution since it was signed. The ink had barely dried on the deal in 2018 before AsiaNews, a website that regularly documents the abduction and torture of underground Catholics, reported that “(u)nderground Catholics bitterly suspect that the Vatican has abandoned them.”
A number of reports from the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China have also referenced an increase in Christian persecution as a direct consequence of the deal.
Despite this, Parolin said in January that it is “moving in the right direction” and bearing “fruit.”