By FR. BERNARCO CERVELLERA
ROME (AsiaNews) — Bishop Vincenzo Guo Xijin, former ordinary bishop of Mindong (Fujian), is now homeless and sleeping on the doorstep of his curia and clergy house in Luojiang, following the January 15 arrival of an eviction order for him and for the priests who work and live with him.
To speed up his eviction, all electricity and water supplies were cut from the building. Officially, the eviction is dictated for security reasons. A sign placed in front of the curia explains that the building — built with all permits over ten years ago — does not respect the fire regulations and must therefore be closed. In reality, the police operation is a sign of official annoyance and an attempt to pressure the bishop and his priests who refuse to sign up to an “independent” Church.
Bishop Guo Xijin is one of the “victims” of the Sino-Vatican agreement, which has transformed the diocese of Mindong into a kind of “pilot project” for the implementation of the accord.
Following the agreement and the lifting of the excommunication from the official bishop, Vincenzo Zhan Silu, at the request of Pope Francis, Guo agreed to be demoted to auxiliary bishop to leave the ordinary seat to Zhan.
However, Bishop Guo never signed up for membership in the independent Church and thus has not been recognized by the government with the result that he has now been downgraded to the status of homeless and migrant.
The exact same fate has befallen many priests who refuse to sign up. Recently, at least five parishes have also been closed for reasons of “fire safety standards.” These would include two large parishes: Fuan, with over 10,000 faithful and Saiqi, with approximately 3,000 faithful.
Some priests speak of the Holy See’s having “too lightly” signed the agreement with China. “It is time for the Vatican Secretariat of State to wake up from their dream,” they say, “and acknowledge that it has made a mistake. Otherwise, it will be complicit in this situation.”
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