Pope visit to Iran?

Pope welcome to visit Iran, Tehran says

Feb 8, 2012, 14:42 GMT

Rome - Iran's ambassador to the Vatican said Wednesday Pope Benedict XVI is welcome to visit Iran and that Vatican officials could play a role to resolve the international spat over Tehran's nuclear programme.

'If the Holy Father decides to embark on such a visit, we would be ready to welcome him in an excellent way and with enthusiasm,' Ambassador Ali Akbar Naseri was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.

An invitation by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the pontiff to visit the Islamic Republic dates back to November 2010 when the Vatican's top interfaith dialogue official, Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran visited Tehran, Naseri said.

Iran and the Holy See had 'very sincere and cordial relations,' that were cemented by talks every two years with the next round scheduled to take place October in Rome, Naseri said.

'When I presented my credentials (as ambassador) Pope Benedict XVI said that the peaceful use of nuclear (power) is a right of each nation,' Naseri said, according to ANSA.

The Iranian ambassador also said he believed that Vatican envoys to the European Union could 'contribute in a positive way' to defuse tensions over Iran's nuclear programme.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1689874.php/Pope-welcome-to-visit-Iran-Tehran-says

Today's Audience - 8.2.12

God is present even when he is “apparently silent”, says pope

In today’s general audience, Benedict XVI spoke about the prayer of the dying Jesus, of his cry “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He also called for prayers and solidarity for the victims of the cold snap that has recently struck some parts of Europe.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Even though he may “appear silent”, God “is present”. For this reason, we should still turn to him with our “daily crosses” and those of our brothers and sisters, said Benedict XVI as he spoke about the prayer of the dying Jesus to 6,000 people present for today’s general audience in the Vatican.

At the end of the meeting, the pope expressed his sympathy for the people in parts of Europe hit by a recent cold snap, urging everyone to reach out to them. “In recent weeks,” he said, “a wave of cold and frost has swept some regions of Europe causing great inconvenience and considerable damage. I wish to express my closeness to people affected by this intense bad weather, while I invite prayers for the victims and their families. At the same time, I encourage solidarity so that those who are suffering from these tragic events are generously supported.”

Before this appeal, Benedict XVI spoke about Mark and Matthew who describe Jesus’ last hours. “Eloì, Eloì, lemà sabactàni? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” are his last words. The two Evangelists cite the prayer of the dying Jesus, not only in Greek, which is the language in which they wrote the story, but also in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic. Hence, not only did they pass on the content but also the sound of the prayer that left Jesus’ lips.”

They refer to “the attitude of those present at the crucifixion”. In the structure of the biblical story, “Jesus’ cry comes after a three hours, between noon and 3 pm, when darkness prevailed over the land. These three hours of darkness followed a period of three hours that began with the crucifixion.”

In those first three hours, “people mocked him, showing their scepticism and asserting their non-belief”. Even “some priests and scribes” were among them, as were those who were crucified with him. In the next three hours, “as it covered all the land, darkness prevailed with no reference to people or words. As Jesus approached his death, darkness ruled the land. Even the cosmos took part in what was happening as darkness enveloped people and things. However, even in this moment of darkness, God was present and forsaking no one.”

“Darkness is an ambivalent symbol in the Bible. Whilst it is frequently a sign of evil’s power, it is also a sign of a mysterious divine presence that can overcome darkness. In Jesus’ crucifixion scene, darkness envelops the land. The Son of God immerses himself in the darkness of death to bring life with act of love.”

“Faced with darkness descending upon everything in the moment of death, with the cry of his prayer, Jesus shows that, together with the weight of suffering and death in which God appears to be absent and to have forsaken us, He is certain of the Father’s closeness, that He approves of this supreme act of love, of giving Oneself, even though, unlike other times, he does not hear the voice from up high.”

What does the cry “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” mean? “In this prayer is there not the awareness that one has been abandoned? Does he doubt his mission, or the Father’s presence? As the opening verse in Psalm 22, the words that Jesus spoke to the Father allow the psalmist to convey to God the tension that exists between the sense of loneliness and the awareness that God is present among his people.”

“Is crying out the words of the Psalm, Jesus is praying in the moment of man’s final rejection, the moment when he is forsaken. With the psalm, he is praying, aware of the presence of God the Father, even at this hour when he feels the human drama of death. Yet, we may wonder. How can so powerful a God not intervene to save his Son from such a terrible ordeal? It is important to understand that Jesus’ prayer is not the cry of one meeting death with despair, nor is it the cry of one who knows himself to be abandoned. At that moment, Jesus makes his own Psalm 22, the psalm of the suffering people of Israel, and in this way, not only does he take upon Himself the punishment of his people, but also that of all men who suffer from the oppression of evil. At the same time, he brings all of this to the heart of God himself in the certainty that his cry will be heard in the Resurrection. The cry of the ultimate ordeal is also the certainty of God’s response, certainty of Salvation, not only for Jesus, but for the ‘multitudes’ as well.”

In his final moment, Jesus lets his heart express his pain. At the same time, through him, the Father’s presence can be felt and the consent to his plan for humanity’s salvation can be given. “As always, we are once again faced today with suffering and God’s silence, which time and time again we express in our prayers. However, the Resurrection, God’ response, remains relevant in today’s world. He has taken on himself our suffering in order to help us carry it, thus giving us steadfast hope that it will be overcome.”
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/God-is-present-even-when-he-is-“apparently-silent”,-says-pope-23919.html

Picture: Evandro Inetti/ Zumapress/ Profimedia

Novena For Priests

Insted of attacking priests each time they are less perfect, the best thing we have to do is to pray for them.
Here is a novena to St. John Vianney .

With thanks to this link that I found at The Pulp.It .

Several attacks from the Obama government to Catholics

10 Ways the Obama Administration Has Alienated Catholics

This is persecution! Not only to arrest and to kill is persecution of the Catholics, this is too!

The Angelus - 5.2.12

Today's Audience - 1.2.12

Pope: We must learn to trust in Providence, God’s will

General audience, Benedict XVI speaks of Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane. In prayer there is the relationship of tenderness, affection and trust that binds Jesus to the Father, the knowledge of the omnipotence of the Father, full adherence to the will of the Father.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "We must learn to trust divine Providence more," to renew our "Thy will be done" as in Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane, the Garden of Olives. The need to conform ourselves to the will of God was illustrated today by Benedict XVI to eight thousand people who attended the general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican.

That night, the "prayer of Jesus is particularly significant." Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives after the Last Supper, while he is praying with his disciples. In Mark's account, "the path to Gethsemane is full of expressions by Jesus that impress upon us his impending fate of death and announce the imminent dispersal of the disciples."

On the Mount of Olives, as at other times, Jesus prepares for personal prayer. "But this time something new happens: He does not seem to want to be alone," he asks Peter, James and John "to be close to him." On that night too Jesus will pray to the Father alone, "because his relationship with Him is totally unique and singular: the relationship of the only begotten Son." Jesus, however, "wants at least three disciples to stay not too far away, in a closer relationship with Him. It is a spatial proximity, a request for solidarity as he feels death approaching, but it is primarily a closeness in prayer, to express in some way, harmony with Him, in the moment in which he prepares to fulfill the will of the Father and it is an invitation to every disciple to follow the path of the Cross. "

In the words addressed to the three, Jesus, once again, expresses himself in the language of the Psalms, this time, Psalm 43: "My soul is sorrowful." They are words that "reveal how he feels fear and anxiety in that hour, how he experiences the final profound solitude as God's plan is being implemented. And this fear and anguish of Jesus is sums up all the horror of man before his own death, the certainty of its relentlessness and the perception of the weight of the evil that touches our lives. "

Later, Jesus addresses the Father, in prayer, "he asks the Father that if possible, the hour might pass from him. It is not just the fear and anguish of man before death, but the devastation of the Son of God who sees the terrible mass of evil that he will have to take upon himself to overcome it, to deprive it of power. "

"We, too, in prayer - said the Pope - must be able to bring our labors before God, the suffering of certain situations, certain days, the daily commitment to follow him, to be Christians and even the weight of the evil we see in us and around us, so He may give us hope, help us feel His proximity, give us a little 'light on life's journey. "

In the continuation of Jesus' prayer "Abba! Father! everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will", Benedict XVI highlighted the" three revealing passages". "At the beginning we have the doubling of the word with which Jesus speaks to God: 'Abba! Father! ', Which in Aramaic is the one used by the child to speak to the father and therefore expresses the relationship of Jesus with God the Father, a relationship of tenderness, affection, trust and abandonment. " In the second "passage" is the awareness of the omnipotence of the Father, 'everything is possible for you', that introduces a requirement that, once again, is the drama of the human will of Jesus before his death and evil: 'Take this cup from me.' But there is the third expression of the prayer of Jesus and it is the decisive one, in which the human will fully adheres to divine will. In fact, Jesus concludes by saying firmly, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.' "

Adam and Eve, continued the Pope, believed that freedom was in their "no" to God, "Jesus tells us that only by conforming his will to the divine, the human being comes to its true height, becoming "divine "; only by coming out of themselves, only in their "yes" to God, is the desire of Adam, of all of us, fulfilled; to be completely free. This is what Jesus did in Gethsemane: transferring human will to the will of God true man was born, and we are redeemed. "

"Let us ask the Lord – concluded the Pope - to be able to watch with Him in prayer, to follow the will of God every day even if it means the Cross, to live ever greater intimacy with the Lord, to bring to this earth a little of God’s heaven”.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope:-We-must-learn-to-trust-in-Providence,-God%E2%80%99s-will-23856.html

Picture: Reuters

The Leonine Prayers

... Prayers after Low Mass which were prescribed by Pope Leo XIII who composed the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel, and were reinforced by Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII to pray for the conversion of Russia. These prayers were in effect until after Vatican II. A decade later Paul VI said, "satan has entered the sanctuary." Could the elimination of these powerful prayers with a ten year indulgence have played a huge part in allowing the devil such easy access? The answer is obvious.
More at http://www.dailycatholic.org/leonine.htm

Pictures:

Bettmann/ Corbis

Francesco De Federicis Alinari Archives/ Florence Alinari via Getty Images/ Life

With thanks to Musings to a Pertinacious Papist.

Golden cobblestones remember victims of the Nazi Holocaust

Euthanasia must always be prohibited

Council of Europe votes that euthanasia must always be prohibited

..."intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited." - let's hope that it may, in the future, be applied to the unborn people also, since they are dependent human beings.

Read it at Protect the Pope.

Priests need prayer

The initiative of Polish Catholics to strengthen priesthood ministry.

Vespers at St. Paul Outside the Walls

The conversion of St. Paul

And Saul, as yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 
And asked of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues: that if he found any men and women of this way, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
And as he went on his journey, it came to pass that he drew nigh to Damascus; and suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him. 
And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 
Who said: Who art thou, Lord? And he: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.
And he trembling and astonished, said: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
And the Lord said to him: Arise, and go into the city, and there it shall be told thee what thou must do. Now the men who went in company with him, stood amazed, hearing indeed a voice, but seeing no man.
And Saul arose from the ground; and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. But they leading him by the hands, brought him to Damascus. 
And he was there three days, without sight, and he did neither eat nor drink.
Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision: Ananias. And he said: Behold I am here, Lord.

World Day of Communications

The Angelus - 22.1.12 II

The Angelus - 22.1.12 I

Pope: Christian unity comes from God, but requires our daily commitment

Pope invites large turn-out for Vespers of January 25 in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls for the conclusion of the Week for Christian unity. Best wishes to the peoples of the Far East for the Lunar New Year.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "The visible unity of all Christians is always the work of above, of God, a work that requires the humility to recognize our weakness and to welcome the gift. However, to use an expression frequently expressed by Blessed Pope John Paul II, every gift becomes commitment. The unity that comes from God requires, therefore, our daily commitment to be open to one another in love” is the message of Benedict XVI in his reflection before the Sunday Angelus with pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square.

The pope wanted to devote his own short address to unity, as this Sunday falls during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25), inviting everyone to participate in "large numbers" in the vespers that will be held on the 25th in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, where representatives of other Christian Churches will also be present.

Benedict XVI also briefly commented on this year's theme: "All shall be changed by the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Cor 15.51-58). "We are called - he said - to contemplate Christ's victory over sin and death, his resurrection as an event that transforms those who believe in Him and opens them up to an incorruptible and immortal life. Recognizing and accepting the transforming power of faith in Jesus Christ, sustains Christians in their search for full unity. "

This year, the theme and reflection for the week was chosen and prepared by a Polish group. "The words of the aforementioned theme - explained the pope - have a particular resonance and relevance for Poland. Over the centuries, Polish Christians have spontaneously understood a spiritual dimension in their desire for freedom and have realized that the true victory can only come if accompanied by a profound inner transformation. They remind us that our search for unity can be conducted in a realistic way if the change takes place primarily in ourselves if we allow God to act, if we allow ourselves to be transformed to the image of Christ, if we enter into new life in Christ, which is the real victory . The visible unity of all Christians is always the work that comes from above, from God, which requires humility to recognize our weakness and to accept the gift".

"For many decades - he added - the Week of Prayer for Christian unity is a central element in the ecumenical activity of the Church. The time we devote to prayer for the full communion of the disciples of Christ will enable us to understand more deeply how we can be transformed by his victory, the power of his resurrection. "

Recalling the appointment of January 25 in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Benedict XVI concluded: "I invite you in great numbers to this encounter so that together we can renew our liturgical prayer to the Lord, source of unity. We entrust this from the outset, with filial confidence, to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. "

After the Marian prayer, the pontiff expressed his best wishes to the peoples of the Far East who tomorrow will celebrate the Lunar New Year, which this year is under the sign of the Dragon. "In these days - he said - various countries of the Far East will celebrate the Lunar New Year with joy. In the present world situation of economic and social crisis, for all those people I hope that the new year is marked by justice and peace, bringing relief to those who suffer, and that especially young people, with their enthusiasm, ideals and drive, can offer new hope to the world. "

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope:-Christian-unity-comes-from-God,-but-requires-our-daily-commitment-23763.html
Picture: Getty Images/ Daylife

On St. Agnes Day

The Neocathecumenal Way Audience II

The Pope, the Neo-Catechumenal Way and New Evangelisation

This Friday, Pope Benedict XVI not only approved the celebrations contained in the Catechetical Directory of the lay movement the Neo-Catechumenal Way, but in a special audience with 7 thousand of its members, he sent out seventeen new "ad gentes" missions drawn from the global movement to bring the Gospel to those countries where it has never been announced, and others where it has been forgotten.

Each mission is made up of three or four large families, members of the Neo-Catechumenal Way who, accompanied by a priest. In short, their task is to kick start the new evangelisation. Twelve missions will go to Europe, four to America and one to Africa.

The Holy Father's told the 7 thousand strong audience Friday "Over these decades of life of the Way, your firm commitment has been to proclaim the Gospel of the risen Christ, ... often abandoning personal and material security. ... Bringing Christ to mankind and mankind to Christ is what animates all evangelising work. You achieve this on a path which helps those who have already been baptised to rediscover the beauty of the life of faith, the joy of being Christian. ... We know that this is not always easy. Sometimes you find yourselves in places in which a first announcement of the Gospel is needed: the 'missio ad gentes'. At other times you are present in areas which, though they have known Christ, have become indifferent to the faith, areas in which laicism has eclipsed the sense of God and obscured Christian values. May your commitment and witness be as a leaven which - patiently, respecting times and with 'sensus Ecclesia' - causes the dough to rise”.

The Papal audience also marked the publication Friday of a decree approving the celebrations contained in the Catechetical Directory of the Neo-Catechumenal Way.

Pope Benedict commented on the decree in his address, saying although "not strictly liturgical” they “are part of the itinerary of growth in the faith. This is a further element showing you that the Church accompanies you attentively and with patient discernment, that she understands your richness but also looks to the communion and harmony of the entire 'Corpus Ecclesiae'”.

"Precisely in order to foment a renewal of the richness of sacramental life among people who have distanced themselves from the Church, or who have not received adequate formation, the members of the Neo-Catechumenal Way can celebrate the Sunday Eucharist in small communities".

"Yet even during the journey it is important not to separate oneself from the parish community, and particularly in the celebration of the Eucharist which is the true place of universal unity, where the Lord embraces us in our various states of spiritual maturity and unites us in the one bread that makes us one body".


The text of the decree published today reads:

"By a decree of 11 May 2008 the Pontifical Council for the Laity gave definitive approval to the Statutes of the Neo-Catechumenal Way. Subsequently, following due consultation with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by a decree of 26 December 2010, the council gave approval to the publication of the Catechetical Directory as a valid and binding instrument for the catechesis of the Neo-Catechumenal Way.

"Now, pursuant to articles 131 and 133 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Apostolic Constitution 'Pastor Bonus' on the Roman Curia, the Pontifical Council for the Laity, having received the 'nulla osta' of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, grants approval to those celebrations contained in the Catechetical Directory of the Neo-Catechumenal Way which are not, by their nature, already regulated by the liturgical books of the Church".

http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=556311

Picture: AFP/ Osseravatore Romano

The Neocathecumenal Way Audience I

AFP/ Andreas Solaro/ Profimedia

The Vatican this morning

Cloudy, the Vatican, this morning. The Neocathecumenal Audience was under way.

Today's Martyrs in China

Appeal: Bishops and priests disappeared or in prison, home for the Chinese New Year
by Bernardo Cervellera

During the Year of the Dragon, AsiaNews asks President Hu Jintao and ambassador Ding Wei for the release of three bishops and six Chinese priests who have disappeared in police custody or are in forced labour camps.

Rome (AsiaNews) - In a letter to President Hu Jintao and the Chinese ambassador in Italy, AsiaNews has decided to ask for the release of three bishops and of six priests who have disappeared in police custody or are detained in prison without trial. Their release could be a gesture of friendship and hope for Catholics and human rights activists, as well as a sign of true hope for the upcoming Chinese New Year.

In just a few days, on January 23, the world of the Far East celebrates the Lunar New Year: we will enter the Year of the Dragon, a very positive year that promises many fruits. In China, hundreds of millions of people will travel to join their families: the dawn of the New Year is always celebrated by strengthening the bonds of family and friendships which help to face the future with an even more positive outlook.

For this reason, we ask that for these three bishops and six priests to be restored to their families and their communities.

They were never charged with any crime; given the opportunity of a trial or convicted by a court. And yet they have been interred in forced labour camps or were seized by the police of a country that is a member of the UN Security Council and that has signed the Charter of Human Rights.
AsiaNews has decided to send a letter to the Chinese ambassador in Italy, the Hon. Ding Wei, who in recent days has admirably and diligently taken great care in serving the Chinese community in Italy, particularly after the tragic event of the barbaric killing of Zhou Zheng and small infant Joy.

Having wept and prayed with him for the family of Zhou, we ask the Hon. Ding for a little of this diligence and care towards the bishops and priests who have disappeared and been imprisoned unjustly, who are also his countrymen and our brothers.

Here is a list of bishops and priests in prison, or disappeared:

Bishops and priests who have disappeared in police custody
Msgr. James Su Zhimin underground bishop of Baoding (Hebei)Msgr. Su, nearly 80 years of age, was arrested by police on October 8, 1997. The charge that led to his arrest has never been revealed, nor whether a trial took place, while place of his detention is unknown. In November 2003 he was discovered by chance at a hospital in Baoding, surrounded by policemen. After a brief and hurried visit from relatives, he once again disappeared in police custody and to this day there has been no more information on his whereabouts.
Before his last arrest, Msgr. Su Zhimin spent at least 26 years on and off in prison or forced labour camps, branded as "counter-revolutionary" just because, since the 1950s, he always refused to join the Patriotic Association, which wants to build a national Church independent of the pope. In 1996 - from a hidden location because he was sought by the authorities – he was able to distribute an open letter calling on the Chinese government to respect human rights and religious freedom of the people. In all, has already spent 40 years in captivity.

Msgr Cosma Shi Enxiang, underground bishop of Yixian (Hebei)Bishop Shi, 90, was arrested April 13 the 2001, which was Good Friday. Nothing is known of him, although his family and the faithful continue to ask the police for at least some news of his wellbeing.
Msgr. Shi Enxiang has suffered long periods of prison from 1957 until 1980, was forced into hard labour, first on a farm in Heilongjiang, then as a miner in coal mines in Shanxi. He was arrested again for three years in 1983, followed by three years of house arrest. In 1989 – following the establishment of the Episcopal Conference of underground bishops – he was arrested once again and was only released in 1993, until his last arrest in 2001. In all, he has already spent 51 years in prison.

Fr. Joseph Lu Genjun, vicar general of the underground diocese of Baoding (Hebei)He disappeared in police custody February 17, 2006. Fr. Lu, who belongs to the underground Church, was arrested in February 2006 along with another priest and a friend whom he met at the train station in Baoding. The other priest was transferred to the Xushui prison (Hebei) and later released. Instead, to date no-one knows where Fr. Lu is imprisoned.
In December 2008, his parishioners asked the government for his release, even if only temporary, to be close to his dying parents and attend their funeral. But even this act of filial piety, which is of great importance in Chinese culture, was denied him.
Fr. Lu has suffered years of imprisonment and other violence. In 1998, Palm Sunday, he was jailed for a short period (perhaps to keep him from celebrating Masses during Holy Week). In 2001 he was sentenced to three years of "re-education through labour" (forced labour camps), accused of having conducted illegal missionary activities that undermine social order because he did not adhere to the Patriotic Association. He was released in 2003.
In May 2004 he was arrested along with another priest, shortly before giving a lecture on natural methods of birth control and moral theology. The two were kept for several days in Dingzhou prison, near Anguita (Hebei).

Fr. Zhang Jianlin, underground priest of the diocese of Xuanhua (Hebei)Fr. Zhang was taken away by staff of the Religious Affairs Bureau on 22 June 2011. Up to now no-one knows where he is being held.
In July 2009, Fr. Zhang had been taken away by police and placed under house arrest in a courtyard attached to the building of a government office. He had been given permission to receive visitors, but was been subjected to heavy physical and psychological tactics to force him to support the Council of Chinese Bishops (not recognized by the Holy See) and to join the Patriotic Association. After seven months of detention he was released, but was kept under constant control, he could not move freely, and was forbidden to practice his ministry
In 2008 he was arrested in Nanjing, for trying to go to the Marian shrine of Sheshan on May 24 and participate in the celebration of the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, convoked by Pope Benedict XVI. Brought back to Hebei, he served a period of detention in Xuanhua.

Fr. Cui Tai, underground priest of the diocese of Xuanhua (Hebei)Fr. Cui disappeared in police custody June 22, 2011. That day some personalities of the government’s Religious Affairs Bureau dragged him away and since then he has disappeared without trace.
He had often been arrested and then released. During his periods of detention, he suffered hunger and his health has drastically deteriorated. In 1993, undergoing a sentence of three years in prison, was beaten and lost two teeth.
In 2001, due to an accident, the police discovered his identity as a priest and detained him in an isolated place in the mountains, forcing him to undergo political sessions and brainwashing. He was later released, but could never freely carry out his ministry, being under constant surveillance.

Bishops and priests who are detained or imprisoned
Fr. Liu Honggen, underground priest of the diocese of Baoding (Hebei)Fr. Liu and eight other priests were arrested in the village of Xinanzuo (Qingyuan County, Hebei), 27 December 2006. He is currently detained in the prison of Qingyuan

Fr. Ma Wuyong, underground priest of the diocese of Baoding (Hebei)Fr. Ma and 8 other priests were arrested in August 2004 in the village of Suijiazhuang (Quyang County, Hebei). The priests had gathered to celebrate their first year of ordination. At least 20 police cars arrived at the place carrying out a door to door search and arrest them. Fr. Ma is currently held in a prison in Qingyuan.
Before the Chinese New Year 2006, Fr. Ma was temporarily released from prison. He was re-arrested a month later, after attending the funeral of a priest of Baoding, Fr. Chen Baidu.

Fr. Wang Chengli, underground priest of the Diocese of Heze (Shandong)On 25 August 2011, Fr. Wang, 48, was sentenced to two and a half years of "re-education through labor" (forced labour) probably because he refused to join the Patriotic Association. To serve his sentence, the priest was transferred from Dongming prison to Jining concentration camp, over 150 miles from his county.

Msgr. Wu Qinjing, official bishop of the diocese of Zhouzhi (Shaanxi)Since November 2007 the government has forced this young bishop to remain imprisoned in the minor seminary in Xian and limits his activities. Bishop Wu was secretly ordained as a bishop of the official diocese of Zhouzhi, but without the permission of the local Patriotic Association. For this reason, since his ordination was made public (May 2006), the government has blocked all of his activities and has kidnapped him, forcing him to memorize the "Regulations on Religious Affairs". He is forbidden to carry the Episcopal insignia or carry out any activities as a bishop. He is still under house arrest at the seminary in Xian.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Appeal:-Bishops-and-priests-disappeared-or-in-prison,-home-for-the-Chinese-New-Year-23704.html