The church in China, official and unofficial, is suffocated by the government: every priest and bishop are obliged to sign their adherence to the “Independent Church” if they want to perform their service. But this makes those who do not sign it declare themselves as acting illegally. The mission of the Church is therefore impoverished. But the Church lives thanks to many witnesses (includng many bishops and priests) who resist to sign and thanks to the daily witness of the faithful: their love and truth attracts many new faithful. The disaster of the coronavirus pandemic in China is linked with the lack of freedom of religion and of speech.
Fr. Bernardo Cervellera is a journalist and a missionary with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME). Currently, he heads the AsiaNews press agency. From 1997 to 2002 he was editor of Fides, the Vatican international press agency. Between 1995 and 1997 he lived in Beijing where he taught History of Western Civilisation at Peking University (Beida). He is contributor of various papers, magazines and other publications and collaborates with radio and TV news programmes.
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