China 'schizophrenic' on religion

National Catholic Reporter, July 16, 2004 by Dennis Coday

ROME -- China's new Communist Party leadership has a schizophrenic policy toward religions, undecided whether to control them or crush them, says Fr. Bernardo Cervellera, editor of the missionary news agency AsiaNews. His comments came at a news conference on the 2004 Report on Religious Freedom in the World, issued by the organization Aid to the Church in Need.

The report followed a protest by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls over the detention of three bishops belonging to the underground Catholic church, which is recognized by the Vatican but not the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

Cervellera, one of the authors of the annual report on religious freedom, said that China's "fourth generation" party leaders installed in March 2003 have forced underground Catholic bishops to undergo "a real brainwashing." But at the same time, he said, Internet caf6s where people meet to explore religion are flourishing.