Children have been banned from entering places of worship in several regions of China after new regulations for religious groups came into effect earlier this month.
A priest in Hebei province who asked to remain anonymous told ucanews.com that authorities had asked clergymen in some parts of the province to post signs prohibiting children from entering religious venues, prayer houses and other church premises. “They also threaten churches that they cannot be used if they refuse to post the signs,” he said.
A blogger wrote that “religious venues are the third premises, following clubs and internet bars, where minors are prohibited from entering”.
Peter, a Catholic in central China, said that he had seen the signs in churches in Xinjiang. He told ucanews.com: “When minors enter internet bars, the government and police turn a blind eye. However, they are becoming very strict in prohibiting minors from entering religious venues. It is ridiculous.”
Before the regulations took effect, Ying Fuk-tsang, director of the divinity school at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told ucanews.com that much would depend on how lower- and higher-level communist officials implemented the decision.
A priest identified only as Fr Thomas of Henan said much would depend on the relationship between the individual church and local government. He said he was talking to the State Administration for Religious Affairs “to strive for space for religious freedom and the Church to survive”, adding: “The living space for the Church is getting less and less.”
Authorities have been tightening their grip on Christians. Last August, ucanews.com reported that at least four regional governments had issued notices restricting children from attending religious activities.
Recovery of nun recognised as 70th Lourdes miracle
The sudden cure of a French nun has been formally recognised as the 70th miracle to have taken place in Lourdes.
Sister Bernadette Moriau was declared fully disabled more than 30 years ago because of a nerve problem called cauda equina syndrome.
But straight after visiting Lourdes in 2008, she stopped taking morphine or relying on a foot brace and wheelchair – and, a few days later, went on a three-mile hike.
“I never asked for a miracle,” the Sister, now 70, said in a video posted on the Beauvais diocese website. She explained that after returning to her home convent and praying in the chapel, “I felt a [surge of] well-being throughout my body, a relaxation, warmth … I returned to my room and, there, a voice told me to ‘take off your braces’. Surprise. I could move.”
Bishop Jacques Benoit-Gonin of Beauvais proclaimed the miracle on Sunday, saying the healing was “sudden, instantaneous, complete and durable”.
The Lourdes medical committee said the changes were unexplainable “in the current state of our scientific knowledge”.
Two priests shot dead in ambush
Two priests have been killed in an armed ambush in Mexico.
Fr Ivan Añorve Jaimes and Fr Germain Muñiz Garcia were travelling between the cities of Taxco and Iguala in Guerrero state when an armed group blocked their vehicle and opened fire. The Church in Guerrero has condemned the killings and called for a thorough investigation. Twenty-one priests have been killed in Mexico since 2012.
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