This Day, That Year

Item from Dec 25, 1989, in China Daily: Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan (who died in 2007) presides over the first mass in St. Michael's Church, which is located in Dongjiaominxiang, southeast of Tian'anmen Square in Beijing and reopened on Saturday. ...

Beijing now has more than 40,000 Catholics who worship regularly in churches. About 400 Catholics are baptized every year in the city.

The number of Catholics has been rising in China, with more than 6 million parishioners served by 3,316 priests, according to the Bishops Conference of the Catholic Church in China.