Mindong: Bishop Guo celebrates the 40th anniversary of his first Mass behind a gate
In Fujian, the auxiliary bishop who quit in 2020 over joining government-controlled bodies, celebrated the anniversary of his priestly ordination under residential segregation. Videos sent to AsiaNews by local sources show him meeting the faithful and administering communion through the bars of a gate while the chapel at his residence is sealed.
Ningde (AsiaNews) – In May 2020 Bishop Vincent Guo Xijing decided to “abandon all offices in the diocese and retire to a life in prayer”, unable to keep up with the times and style “of the Church in China”, specifically in the Diocese of Mindong.
Five years later, the former underground prelate is now confined to his home, behind a gate with a conspicuous chain that prevents him from receiving visits by the faithful.
In 2018, he had been nominated by the Holy See to serve as auxiliary bishop in accordance with the Provisional Agreement between the Vatican and Beijing on episcopal appointments, leaving the leadership of the local Church to the "official" bishop, Rt Rev Vincent Zhan Silu, who was welcomed back into communion with the pope.
Videos were sent to AsiaNews coinciding with a special day for the 67-year-old bishop, namely the 40th anniversary of his priestly ordination, celebrated last Saturday. In one such videos, Bishop Guo marks his special day behind a chained gate offering friends who visited him a slice of cake passed through the bars.
This was also the only way he could distribute communion after the authorities sealed the chapel at his residence to prevent the faithful in the underground community (historically very strong in northern Fujian) from participating in his celebrations.
In the video, people can be seen bringing rosaries and religious objects to be blessed by the prelate, passed through the same gate.
Local sources told AsiaNews that Bishop Guo Xijing has been under tighter restrictions since Christmas, part of renewed pressures on local members of the clergy to join the official Church bodies imposed by the Communist Party on the Church in China, something that the prelate and other priests in northern Fujian have refused to do.
It should be added that all this took place in the weeks following Bishop Zhan Silu of Mindong’s participation in the Synod in the Vatican, in October.
Videos about Bishop Guo Xijing’s situation also come a few days after Bishop Cai Bingrui of Xiamen was moved, with Holy See approval, to the Diocese of Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian, historically of the one most important Catholic sees in China.
Bishop Zhan Silu led the ceremony in the same diocese where, as reported in the past, the unity between "official" and "underground" Church is far from being attained, which heavy gates imposed by the authorities certainly will not help to achieve.
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10/04/2017 18:29
17/09/2020 11:39
