Last Friday, a US-based human rights monitor reported the detainment of Bishop Julias Jia Zhiguo. The bishop was apparently detained for having refused to register into the state controlled Catholic Patriotic Association. The report also mentioned that Jia is believed to be held in nearby-city Shijiazhuang.

According to the Connecticut-based Cardinal Fung Foundation, Jia was at a church in Wuqiu when government agents apprehended him last Wednesday.

Wuqiu is a village located close to Jia’s home in the city of Zhengding. Jia diocese encompasses much of the Hebei Province, 240 km (150 miles) from Beijing. Hebei has traditionally been a stronghold for Catholicism in northern China.

Jia, age 69, has reportedly been jailed on multiple occasions since his ordination by the Vatican in 1980. Various religious monitoring groups have reported that over the years Jia continues to face harassment by public-security officers.

State officials continue to show little tolerance for unregistered Protestant and Catholic churches. Various human rights and religious activities monitor continually report the imprisonment of Catholic and Protestant leaders over the past decade.