HONG KONG (UCAN): Bishop Zhuang Jianjian from the unofficial Church in Shantou did not attend his own retirement Mass after not agreeing to retire.
 
The 88-year-old bishop attended a retirement ceremony held by the Diocese of Shantou but said he did not attend a Mass celebrated by his replacement, Bishop Huang Bingzhang, who was excommunicated until he was accepted by Pope Francis following the Sino-Vatican provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops was signed last September.
 

Pope Francis issued his message to the Catholics of China and the universal Church shortly after the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China signed a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops.  

HONG KONG (UCAN): Wang Zuo’an, deputy director of the Central United Front Work Department told a December 18 symposium, held by the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, that no foreign religious organisation or foreign powers would be able to endanger national interests through control and manipulation of the Chinese Catholic Church.
 

BRUSSELS (UCAN): The new York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a December 3 letter to the foreign and interior ministers of European Union (EU) member countries, that Turkic Muslims from China should not be forcibly returned without a full and fair individualised examination of their risk of being ill-treated.
 
The rights organisation also urged governments to expedite asylum claims and investigate and address the Chinese government’s intimidation of Turkic Muslim diaspora communities.
 

HONG KONG (UCAN): Human Rights Watch called on Chinese authorities to immediately release Pastor Wang Yi and scores of members of the Early Rain Covenant Church, in the southwestern city of Chengdu in Sichuan province.
 
On December 9 and 10, police in Chengdu arrested Pastor Wang Yi and more than 100 member of the Protestant Church which is not registered with the government.
 
Human Rights Watch said on December 14 that authorities should also return Church properties and allow the members to resume worship services.

HONG KONG (UCAN): Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou, and Father Lu Danhua of Lishui, were freed by authorities in China’s Zhejiang province on November 23 and 22.
 
Bishop Shao had been taken away by authorities on November 9, while Father Lu had been under detentions since December 29 last year.
 
Father Lu, who was ordained by Bishop Shao in 2016, is the only priest in sparsely populated Lishui Diocese, which is adjacent to Wenzhou.