Underground bishop Msgr. Cuitai freed. He will be re-arrested after the Chinese New Year

Police allowed him to spend the holidays with his very elderly sister. Since 2007 the bishop has been under police control and in solitary confinement.

Rome (AsiaNews) - Msgr Agostino Cui Tai, underground bishop of Xuanhua (Hebei) has been freed to spend the Chinese New Year celebrations with his family, which begins on the evening of January 24th, according to some priests of the diocese. They say the police will return the bishop to isolation after the New Year holidays.

Archbishop Cui, 69, was arrested and taken away by the police last March.

The bishop is recognized by the Holy See but not by the government, which is pushing him to become a member of an "independent" Church.

Since 2007, the authorities have relentlessly and illegally detained Msgr. Cui Tai or placed him under house arrest, without observing any legal process. During these years, the bishop has  been locked up in several secret detention centers, or in hotels, or taken away for forced "vacations" under the escort of government officials. Only during the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival (of the moon) has Msgr. Cui Tai  occasionally been able to return home for a short visit to his elderly sister. For the rest of the time he has always remained under the guard and control of the government.

• china
• vatican
• religious freedom
• xuanhua
• hebei
• agostino cui ta
• patriotic association
• underground church
• unofficial
• nomination agreement on bishops
• pope francis
• xi jinping