Chinese Bishop Giulio Jia Zhiguo, who was arrested last year after holding a meeting on the state of the Roman Catholic Church in China, has been released, the Vatican announced Thursday.
The 75-year-old bishop of Zhengding, in northern China's Hebei province, "was freed yesterday" (Wednesday), Radio Vatican said.
The Vatican had called Jia's arrest on March 31, 2009 "an obstacle to dialogue" and noted that other clergymen were also being held or put under pressure because of their religious activities.
A Vatican committee of Church officials and representatives of Chinese bishops which discussed Church life in communist China as he was being arrested found that "problems are not only due to difficulties inside the Church but also to the tense relationship with civilian authorities".
Pope Benedict XVI, who set up the committee in 2007, said it was "important to help Catholics in China see the beauty and rationality of Christian faith".
The arrest was not Jia's first and came following a previous detention on August 24, 2008, the closing day of the Olympic Games in Beijing. He has now been detained 13 times by police since 2004.
The prelate advocates the rights of people with disabilities.
Rights groups say those who remain loyal to the Vatican often suffer persecution, with detentions of bishops common.
In September 2008, an elderly Chinese Catholic bishop who spent almost half his life in detention died while serving his latest prison term in Hebei.
China counts several million Catholics -- comprised of members of an official Church with links to Chinese political authorities and an unofficial "clandestine" Church that says it derives its legitimacy from the pope.
The Holy See and China have not had diplomatic relations since 1951.
Copyright 2010 AFP Asian Edition
