THE plight of Chinese Catholics is being shown in Europe in terms of an old Chinese proverb: "One picture is worth 10,000 words."
The graphic demonstration is a series of six paintings by a Chinese convert to Catholicism. Kuo Mmg-Chiao. The series was originally prepared for showing during the International Eucharistic: Congress in Munich last August. but it has moved so popular that it has been shown in dozens of cities in France. Belgium Germany and Italy since. The series will be presenteu as a gift to Pope John in the near future.
The artist used as his source of ideas interviews with Chinese nuns and priests who had escaped to Formosa and from personal experiences in China.
The sex pictures, drawn in black and white on bamboo paper, depict various scenes of persecution of Christians in China. The artist said he was inspired by Bishop Ignatius Kung of Shanghai, now condemned to life imprisonment, who in 1952 told a Legion of Mary group that you have already shed many tears and much blood for the defence of the Faith and this year there is need that you expect to shed still more."
The six paintings are currently being displayed here in a gallery adjoining the Dominican church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva