NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      ROME (CWNews.com) - The Vatican news service Fides reported on Monday that priests serving the underground Catholic Church in China have been arrested, tortured, sexually abused, and blackmailed by the Communist authorities.

      Father Li Qinghua was arrested in November in Hebei province has suffered torture designed to undermine his priestly vocation and training, including the use of special female agents who try to tempt the priests into engaging in sexual relations, the agency said. Fides reported: "Hidden video-cameras are used to film the priest's reactions, to blackmail him into admitting his connection with other underground priests and force him to join" the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the state-sanctioned church that eschews any contact with foreign religious bodies, including the Vatican, and denies certain Catholic doctrines.

      Father Li, 31, was arrested on November 15 during a secret catechetical session and six lay workers were arrested the following day. The six were later released, but Father Li has since been transferred to a special prison unit in Xushui. Underground priests arrested anywhere in Hebei are brought in Xushui where a special guest-house has been transformed into prison: the corridors along the rooms are barred with iron grills, with no escape, according to priests who have suffered the same abuse.

      According to the report, priests who resist the temptations and brainwashing risk being sent to the brutal "re-education camps," are placed under house arrest, or are sent back to be dealt with by local police.