Vatican seeks to confirm reports of priests badly beaten in China

Published: 2005-12-20

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Unknown assailants wielding iron bars, clubs and bricks attacked a group of priests in a Chinese city after the priests staged a sit-in and occupied a building in protest over a property dispute, according to an Italian-based missionary news agency. Reports by AsiaNews said at least six priests and one woman suffered serious injuries after more than 30 thugs beat them and others Dec. 16 in the seaport city of Tianjin in northern China. A Vatican official told Catholic News Service Dec. 20 that the Vatican was seeking to confirm the veracity and details of the reports from its representatives in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Archbishop Robert Sarah, secretary of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, said the reports of violence needed to be verified before issuing a comment so as "not to damage the already delicate relations" between the Vatican and China, which have had no diplomatic ties since 1951.

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