Christians Overtake Communists in China

Great story from front page of the W. Times this ayem.

State-sanctioned Protestant and Catholic churches in China count up to 35 million followers, making Christianity the third most practiced religion in the country after Buddhism and Taoism. Islam ranks fourth.
Even more significant is a steadily growing network of underground or "house" churches, which are said to have up to 100 million members. That compares with an official total of 70 million members of the Communist Party, many of whom have lost faith as the party has moved away from strict ideological principles toward increasing acceptance of free markets.

Among the known converts are at least a few of the most prominent figures from the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations, most of whom are now living in exile. These include Zhang Boli and Xiong Yan, both of whom were on a list of the 21 most-wanted student leaders that was published shortly after the Beijing massacre, and both of whom have been ordained as priests.

UPDATE: Plus, a group of Chinese seminarians attended the papal audience this morning. Official Chinese Catholics.