Beijing, China - China's web portals have blocked prayers, blessings and other comment on the death of Pope John Paul II from being posted on the Internet, officials said.
While popular portals such as Sina.com and Sohu.com's on-line discussion forums were flooded with messages about the pope Saturday, no messages could be seen Monday.
An official with Sohu.com confirmed the company had censored the comments, using sophisticated technology to allow only the writer to see his or her own comments.
"Religious issues are special. We are afraid of problems arising," said a Sohu official.
"It's not that they are taken off, it just means whoever issued the statement, only they can see it. Other people cannot see it," the official told AFP.
Asked whether the portal had received an order from the government, the official insisted it was the company's own decision.
"We're afraid people who don't understand religion will make unreasonable remarks," the official said.
The other major mainland Chinese language portals, Sina.com and Netease.com, could not be reached for comment but their sites were also void of comments on the pope.
An official at the Beijing police department's Internet management office denied knowledge of the censorship, but defended China's practice of censoring the Internet.
"Based on the regulations from above, harmful information needs to be dealt with," the official said. But he insisted: "China has religious freedom."
On Saturday, while state media was silent as the head of the Roman Catholic church hovered between life and death, the news received prominent coverage on the websites, which set up special web pages on the topic and opened on-line discussion forums.
State newspapers Monday carried only brief reports about the 84-year-old pontiff's death Saturday night, focusing mainly on the Chinese government's perfunctory remarks expressing condolences.
While most of the on-line messages posted earlier Saturday were prayers and words of appreciation and blessings, there were words of hostility also, criticizing the Vatican for having diplomatic ties with China's rival Taiwan.
In contrast, during US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to China last month, the websites allowed an uncensored onslaught of racist, sexist, and highly offensive remarks about her to be posted.