A clampdown on religious freedom has intensified in the province in recent months.

It also highlights how high-level deliberations in the marble-columned splendor of the Vatican City and in Beijing's walled leadership compound could have reverberations in places like rural Saiqi for generations to come.

The bishop emeritus of Hong Kong said, “Pope Francis promotes the Holy See’s negotiations with China for the good of the church, to bring something good to the church and to the whole of humanity.”

The AsiaNews agency said Mindong Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin and his chancellor were taken away Monday, at the start of Holy Week.

The Vatican and China, which severed diplomatic ties in 1951, have had on-again, off-again talks since the 1980s.