Tibetan Catholics, remaining loyal:

Deep in the southwest mountains of officially atheist China, a small
congregation of Tibetan Catholics still pledges its loyalty to the Pope after
years of persecution and isolation.

This community in the mountains of Yunnan province that buttress Tibet itself
has remained a bastion of the faith since Swiss missionaries converted their
ancestors a century ago.

Their small church was levelled in the 1960s during the heyday of the
Cultural Revolution and its priests chased away. Members of the congregation
also recount how they and their families endured frequent raids by their
Buddhist neighbours.

But despite decades of hardship, the Catholic faith still runs strong among
the few hundred villagers