Written by Fr Angelo Lazzarotto, a PIME missionary and a great authority on the country and its Church, the Chinese edition of the book was translated by the Holy Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong and can now be downloaded.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - The book 'What future for the Church in China' by Fr Angelo Lazzarotto has sold out its Chinese edition, translated by the Holy Spirit Study Centre of the Diocese of Hong Kong, one of the best resource centres on the Church in China.

The book's Italian edition was first released by Emi, a Bologna publisher, in 2012, under the title Quale futuro per la Chiesa in Cina? (What future for the Church in China?), as AsiaNews reported at the time. Now the Chinese edition is available on online in pdf format.

Fr Lazzarotto, a PIME missionary, knows China and its Church very well. In his book, he looks first at the ambiguous history of the Communist Party of China, torn between a desire to destroy the Church and religions and that of subordinating them to the raison d'État.

He also goes into the current situation in which the Chinese Church is full of evangelising spirit but also stifled by the government to the point that it might undergo a schism.

The reference here is to the government's ordination of illegal bishops in the past few years, an action that could divide the Church.

Nevertheless, Fr Lazzarotto is hopeful that China's government will recognise the fact that, by adhering to their faith, Catholics have always been good citizens.

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