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Underground Church mourns Bishop Pei
Dies under house arrest
Bishop Matthew Pei Shangde, the leader of the unofficial or “underground” Catholic Church in Beijing, died on Christmas Eve, while under house arrest.

Bishop Pei, who had been placed under house arrest in April despite his serious illness, died of kidney failure in Shengxing hospital in the Hebei province. He was 83 years old. Born in 1918 and ordained to the priesthood in 1948, Bishop Pei spent 10 years in labor camps after the Cultural Revolution. He was released in 1980, and secretly consecrated as a bishop in 1989.

The Vatican’s official Annuario Pontificio lists no bishop for the Beijing diocese. While the Chinese government recognizes Bishop Fu Tieshan as head of the diocese, loyal Catholics have long looked to Bishop Pei as their leader.

That tension was evident at the January 2 funeral for the beloved bishop; his followers planned a large ceremony, but government officials demanded a quiet service. The funeral for Bishop Pei was held in the village of Zhangjiapu, outside Beijing. Police had announced that only local residents could attend the service, and official spokesmen put the attendance at 200-300. But independent eyewitnesses said that at least 3,000 people crowded into the church, with almost an equal number outside.

Although the Chinese government never recognized Bishop Pei, he was wearing the emblems of his office as a Catholic bishop as his body was laid out for the thousands of mourners who paid their last respects in Zhangjiapu. At his funeral, a priest of the “official” government-recognized Church paid homage to the deceased bishop for his efforts to unite the Catholic faithful.

The depth of Bishop Pei’s loyalty to the Holy See was evident most recently in his response to the appeal made by Pope John Paul II on October 24 for negotiations between the Vatican and China. “When I heard the news, I had a deep desire to kneel in front of him and thank him for the profound paternal love that he sent to us,” the Chinese bishop had said.

Death sentence for Christian leader
Church cited as “evil cult”
A Protestant Christian minister was sentenced to death in China on charges he leads an “evil cult,” according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy based in Hong Kong.

Gong Shengliang is the founder of the South China Church, an underground church in Hebei province. Gong’s niece Li Ying was also given a death sentence, but it was commuted to a two-year term. Fifteen other members of the church were sentenced to jail terms ranging from two years to life imprisonment.

The South China Church, which has about 50,000 followers, was branded a cult by Chinese authorities in April. The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations.

Another execution?
Bible smuggler faces punishment
A Chinese man could face the death penalty after he was indicted for smuggling thousands of Bibles into the country, according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

Li Guangqiang, a Hong Kong businessman, was indicted in the southeastern city of Fuqing for taking 33,000 Bibles to the underground Christian group, the Shouters Sect, in April and May 2001. Two members of the Christian group, Yu Zhudi and Lin Xifu, who made the request for the Bibles, were also indicted, the rights group said. According to the charges, Li “used a cult to undermine the enforcement of the law.”

The Shouters Sect was banned in 1995 as an “aberrant religious organization,” according to the human-rights group Amnesty International. The sect’s charismatic style of worship includes shouting out prayers.

Back to Catholic World Report February 2002 Table of Contents