Bishop Dong Baolu of the Catholic Youtong Underground Faithful Church in Luancheng District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province has revealed that Communist Party thugs destroyed their church a number of weeks ago.
As the bishop attended a medical checkup, the Communists stormed the building and raised it to the ground.
A video shows the perverted Communists destroying the church as punishment for the refusal of the Catholics to join the so called ‘Patriotic Church’, which was established by the regime in the 1950s.
The bishop stated that he has defied the Communists by refusing to join their fake church, making him a target of their violence.
The bishop blamed the Chinese Communist Party’s agreement with the Vatican for the crackdown:
The Sino-Vatican Agreement supports the official support for the underground, and this policy is that people are trapped and you give people a pillow, just right. The Vatican gave people this opportunity to get underground, and now the government will become a fool if it doesn't get this opportunity. The Chinese government doesn't mess with you.
The bishop warned in January that he faced arrest, stating:
To be honest, we are not afraid. What are we afraid of? For years we have been living on edge. I don’t bring my cell phone with me since people might tap me. Once I leave my home, there are CCTVs around. What happens in my house can clearly be seen by others. Whenever I have guests, they would immediately send people our way. There is a working group residing in the village. We have been watched 24/7.
One of his parishioners stated at the time the Communists were afraid to arrest him because of international attention, though after the lack of consequences for arresting Cardinal Zen, the Communists may be feeling bolder.
I asked him, how come the government does not arrest him? He responded that he actually wants to go in [to prison], but the government wouldn’t do it because he is somewhat known internationally, and many people are aware of him. The government fears that his imprisonment would ‘badly affect’ the Chinese government.
One Chinese pastor, currently living in the United States, is quoted by the RFA as wanting an end to the Vatican’s deal with China.
I would like to appeal to the Vatican Holy See to listen to the voices of local Catholics and loyal churches in other regions, stop compromise with the authoritarian Chinese government and patriotic churches, and not become accomplices of the authoritarian dictatorship and religious persecutors
Pope Francis meanwhile has said that he expects the ‘imperfect’ agreement to be renewed in October.
Underground Catholic Church Demolished in China’s Hebei | Persecution