BEIJING China has arrested an underground Catholic priest who resisted pressure to swear allegiance to the Communist Party, AFP quoted a parishioner and a rights group as saying Tuesday.
Reverend Father Gao Yihua was arrested by five police officers at the home of his friend on August 19 after celebrating a private holy mass, the U.S.-based Cardinal Fung Foundation said in a statement sent to Beijing.
Gao, 44, was a priest at the Shang Chen Tang church in the township of Jinfengzhen in Changle County, in the southern province of Fujian.
Police and Religious Bureau officials in Fujian on Tuesday denied Gao had been arrested.
But Chen Mouyun, a parishioner at a government-sanctioned church in Changle, confirmed Gao was arrested.
Chen said Gao was released two days later, although the Cardinal Kung Foundation said his whereabouts were still unknown on Tuesday.
"Police questioned him about his illegal activities in the underground church," Chen told AFP. "This guy doesn't have a fixed church.
He's like a guerrilla, moving from one town to another." The arrest was not Gao's first encounter with Chinese authorities.