Chinese authorities have arrested the coadjutor bishop of Wenzhou, reportedly to stop him taking over the diocese after the death of Bishop Vincent Zhu Weifang.
AsiaNews, the Rome-based missionary news agency, said police took Coadjutor Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin out of the diocese in early September. Under canon law, a coadjutor takes over the diocese when the bishop retires or dies.
AsiaNews reported that Bishop Shao was taken to northwest China “on a trip”. The diocesan chancellor, Fr Paul Jian Sunian, was escorted by police to Yunnan, and another priest was held in a hotel.
