China 'detains' over 20 prominent underground church pastors

The list includes several pastors and Zion Church founder Jin Mingri, who was arrested in the early hours of Saturday after 10 officers searched his home, US-based non-profit ChinaAid said as quoted by BBC.

According to reports, the Chinese Communist Party tightly controls religion in the country. It promotes atheism.

It is still not clear whether the detained people have been formally charged.

"Such systematic persecution is not only an affront to the Church of God but also a public challenge to the international community," Zion Church said in a statement as quoted by BBC.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the detention and said in a statement: "The United States condemns the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s recent detention of dozens of leaders of the unregistered house Zion Church in China, including prominent pastor Mingri 'Ezra' Jin."

Rubio said the crackdown further demonstrated how the CCP exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches.

"We call on the CCP to immediately release the detained church leaders and to allow all people of faith, including members of house churches, to engage in religious activities without fear of retribution," Rubio said.

Former US Vice President Mike Pence also demanded for the immediate release of the pastor.

"The Chinese Communist Party must release Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri and other Christian leaders immediately. This attack on Christianity will not prevail," he wrote on X.