VATICAN CONDEMNS CHINESE ARRESTS: The Vatican has strongly protested to China over the arrest of three Roman Catholic bishops–one of them 84 years old–in the past month. …

The Vatican and China have had no diplomatic ties since the 1950s, when Beijing expelled foreign clergy.

BBC religious affairs correspondent Jane Little says the Vatican response indicates it has lost patience with China.

It called the bishops’ arrest “inconceivable in a country based on laws”. …

[Vatican spokesman Joaquin Novarro-Valles] said the 84-year-old bishop of Xuanhua had been arrested on 27 May and there had been no news of him for nearly a month.

The other two bishops–from Xiwanzi and Zhengding–were taken into custody for several days this month and released.

None were further identified.

The Vatican says about eight million Chinese belong to the so-called underground Catholic church, while the state-backed Chinese Patriotic Church has an estimated five million members.

In December, Beijing dismissed an official American report which had criticised religious intolerance in China.

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Via Mark Shea