Cardinals, monasteries and faithful worldwide join prayer campaign
The three Asian cardinals created by Benedict XVI have joined. Convents and priest are praying also for the conversion of the Patriotic Association and Liu Bainian.
Rome (AsiaNews) The three Asian cardinals created by Benedict XVI, parishes, convents, priests on pension, association, families and individual believers. The invitation of AsiaNews to the Catholic world to join in prayers for China's underground Church is finding support from everywhere. The intention of the prayer campaign is strength and courage for priests and bishops who the Patriotic Association (PA) has sought to separate from the Pope through pressure and threats. And some are praying for the conversion of the Association and of Liu Bainian, its deputy chairperson, the man largely behind the illicit Episcopal ordinations.
Cardinal Zen said from Hong Kong: "We want to pray so that our Christian and Catholic roots of affection and ties with the Pope will remain strong. We are sure the vast majority is strong and convinced of wanting to remain in the one and only flock, with the Pope at the head as the supreme shepherd. With our prayers, we want to express the fact that we admire them for their strength and that we are supporting them in what is such a difficult time". Joining in the prayer campaign, Cardinal Cheong, the archbishop of Seoul, said: "Many people in Korea hope China will have freedom of worship." He recalled that the "Communist government" of Beijing is seeking to create "patriotic" groups for Buddhists and Protestants too, "offering them great support". For his part, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, telling of his personal union with the prayer, said he wanted to discuss the "campaign" with other bishops in the Philippines too.
AsiaNews sources from Beijing have said news of the world's response to the prayer campaign is circulating in the underground and official Church.
In the West, internet and blog sites are spreading the idea.
A monastery of Poor Clares in Virginia in the United States is praying so that "the Holy Spirit may convert the hearts of all those responsible for evil"; on the same lines, from Galles, another monastery of Poor Clares wrote that "every day we pray for the conversion of Liu Bainian. We will seek to redouble our efforts". A group of priests on pension added from the United States: "We will pray also that the Patriotic Association will convert and become part of the Church."
A parish priest from Prato said: "At the end of each Holy Mass, I will ask that we may say a prayer to Our Lady for China's 'official' Catholics and their shepherds." Some Italian priests have declared their intention to include the Church in China in the Mass intentions of this month, while some believers will ask their parish priests to do the same, apart from spreading the message of the campaign among their friends, and dedicating a day of fasting for China.
And among the many other responses, there is a Canadian who recalls his Chinese origins, an American who remembers studying together with Mgr Paul Pei, who has just been ordained a bishop with the consent of the Pope, an English woman who promises a novena for missionaries to St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Promise of prayers has poured in from Australia, Poland, Taiwan and Bosnia.
And this is after just three days.
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04/05/2006
21/12/2018 09:43
