Thousands celebrate Corpus Christi in China with processions, prayers

Published: 2005-06-01

FUZHOU, China (CNS) -- Thousands of Chinese Catholics lined up and knelt along a 1,300-foot stretch of road in Fuzhou Diocese for 30 minutes to welcome the Blessed Sacrament as it passed by in a procession. The event May 28, the eve of the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, or Corpus Christi, took place at the entrance to Rosa Mystica Sanctuary, a Marian shrine in the diocese, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. The procession in southeastern China was part of the eucharistic congress at the shrine to celebrate Corpus Christi and the Year of the Eucharist that the late Pope John Paul II had set to run from last October to this October. Elderly Catholics and their families held flowers and candles in their hands while kneeling on the ground awaiting the procession. Some recited the rosary.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .