Vatican City - An elderly bishop belonging to China's underground Roman Catholic Church has been released after spending more than 10 months in police custody, a Vatican-affiliated news agency reported Tuesday.
Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, 70, has returned to his home in the northern city of Zhengding and has been free to receive visits from priests of his diocese, said AsiaNews, a missionary news service close to the Vatican.
Government agents seized Jia on Nov. 8, arresting him for the eighth time in two years. AsiaNews reported that during his latest detention the bishop was interrogated and pressured to adhere to the Communist Party-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association, which rejects Vatican authority over issues such as the naming of bishops.
A woman at the Zhengding Public Security Bureau, who would not identify herself, said she was unaware of Jia's case. The director of the Zhengding detention center, who gave only his surname, Wu, also said he did not know about the case.
China broke ties with the Vatican in 1951 and demands that Catholics worship only in churches approved by the state-controlled group, which does not recognize the pope's authority.
Worship is allowed only in government-controlled churches, which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.
Many Chinese Catholics, however, remain loyal to the Vatican and risk arrest by worshipping in unofficial churches and private homes. They are frequently harassed, fined and sometimes sent to labor camps.