While the release of Bishop An is a good sign, there are six more bishops in jail… We hope that this release is not an isolated case.

— Joseph Kung, head of the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation, referring to the recent release of Bishop An Shuxin, 57, who languished for more than a decade in the Chinese prison system.

Bishop An Shuxin is an underground bishop who led some of China’s eight million Catholics, according to the Vatican’s estimate (or, by the Chinese government’s significantly more conservative count, five million believers).  In 1951 China severed ties with the Holy See, which recognizes Taiwan, to China’s great annoyance. Chinese Catholics must be members of the state-sponsored Catholic church that functions independently of the Vatican and the Pope. Bishop An Shuxin now has a permit to serve as a bishop, but he nevertheless continues to be under observation.  

Mimi Hanaoka