A Chinese priest who publicly quit the state-sanctioned Catholic Church was taken away by officials over the weekend. He is being held in his seminary, a source told Reuters.

Priest Thaddeus Ma Daqin announced he was leaving the Communist Party-run Patriotic Catholic Association in Shanghai on Saturday, according to AsiaNews, a Catholic online news source.

Ma had just been ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai with approval of the pope, said a source close to the Vatican. A Vatican spokesman confirmed the ordination.

Hong Kong's Catholic Diocese committee member, Patrick Poon said Ma's case highlights the dilemma China's 8 to 12 million Catholics face.

[Patrick Poon, Committee Member and Convenor of China Affairs Group of Justice and Peace Commission of Hong Kong Catholic Diocese]:
"I think Bishop Ma sent a very clear message to all the Catholic Church people in China that if they want to be a loyal member of the Catholic Church, then they cannot obey the government, the Chinese government as well, at the same time, because what the Chinese government is doing is actually restraining freedom of religion in China."

Chinese Catholics are divided between a state-sanctioned church that has installed bishops without Vatican approval and an "underground" wing long wary of associating with the Communist Party-run church.

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