04/04/2019, 12.01
CHINA-VATICAN
Shaanxi government razes Qianyang parish to ground (video)
by Bernardo Cervellera
The building had an upper floor for the liturgy and a lower one that housed the nuns who offered medical visits and medicines to the population of the very poor area. The parish community is composed of 2 thousand faithful. Motive for destruction uncertain.
Rome (AsiaNews) - This morning, the Qianyang (Shaanxi) government razed the only parish in the city to the ground. A bulldozer reduced the two-story building to rubble under the supervision of a group of policemen. In the video sent to
AsiaNew s we hear the sobs of some women, while several faithful look astonished at the destruction.
The Qianyang parish was located in a very poor area of Shaanxi and gathers around 2 thousand Catholics, all peasants. It was built with offerings from other communities in the diocese. On the upper floor the building housed the liturgy room; on the ground floor there were offices and the nuns residence. The sisters offered medical aid, medical visits and medicines to the indigent population.
The reasons for the destruction are still not known clearly.
The Diocese of Fengxiang
, led until 2017 by Msgr. Luke Li Jingfeng has a special character in the Chinese church scene: it is the only diocese where neither the faithful nor the bishop are members of the Patriotic Association . . .
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