Mainland China

China’s state-controlled Catholic Church has announced Friday its plans to ordain at least 40 new bishops to help satisfy demand of dozens of China’s dioceses that currently are bishop-less.

The move, however, is likely to infuriate the Vatican and further strain ties between the worldwide Catholic Church and China’s state-controlled Church.

According to Xinhau news agency China's Catholic Church had agreed at a recent meeting to “strive to select and ordain bishops at these dioceses without delay.” more >>

Floods caused by torrential rains in southern and eastern China since the beginning of the month have left at least 175 people dead and another 86 missing, the Civil Affairs Ministry said Monday.

Heavy bouts of rain since June 3 have affected over 36 million people and left 1.6 million displaced in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Chongqing Municipality, the ministry said in a statement.

In Zhejiang province alone, about 8,400 houses collapsed and many highways were closed, Xinhua news agency reported. more >>

More than 500,000 residents have been forced to evacuate as continued torrential rain in central and southern China has caused some of the worst flooding seen on the region in over 50 years.

The Chinese government has mobilized troops to help with the mass evacuations to try and help people escape the devastation that has already seen more than 100 people die from the flooding so far.

The disaster level in China has been raised to level four; the highest level. To compound matters weather reports have told the regions to expect the torrential rains to continue until at least the end of the week. more >>

DUBLIN – Police last weekend detained a further 16 members of Beijing’s Shouwang house church and placed several more under house arrest, while members of China’s government-approved churches have gone to police stations to “admonish” detained house church members, according to a statement issued yesterday by church leaders.

Of those detained, police held two in protective custody in hotels, beginning on Friday night (June 10), while another 14 who turned up at Shouwang’s designated outdoor worship site on Sunday morning (June 12) were taken away and sent to 10 different police stations. Of those detained Sunday morning, 13 were released by midnight while the last was released the next day.

Police at Haidian station also locked into a basement three Christians who had come to visit detained church members, the statement said. more >>

Several Christian leaders from the U.S. have added their names to a petition calling on the Chinese government to stop its religious persecution against Shouwang Church, the church in Beijing that made headlines after authorities blocked its members from holding services on Easter.

Dr. Bob Wenz, a member of the board of directors and former vice president for National Association of Evangelicals; Dr. Os Guinness, a Christian writer and social critic; and Brent McBurney, president and CEO of Advocates International, are among those who are standing in solidarity with Shouwang Church.

Joining with churches and individuals worldwide, they are calling “on the Chinese government to end the religious persecution of this church and its members and to uphold the right to freedom of religion guaranteed by the Chinese constitution.” more >>

Thousands of people have gathered in Hong Kong to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, which saw the bloody slaughter of hundreds of people, Saturday June 4, 2011.

22 years ago in 1989 Chinese government tanks and soldiers entered Tiananmen Square in Beijing and brutally crushed escalating pro-democracy protests.

The anniversary comes as the Chinese government enforces its toughest clampdown on dissents in years, detaining dozens of lawyers, writers and artists over recent months. more >>