Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Wujiazhuang (Agenzia Fides) - On December 11, Mgr. Paul Liu Jinghe, a few days before his 93rd birthday, died in Tangshan (Diocese of Yongping, in Hebei Province, mainland China). The senior Prelate, who had been sick for more than a year, died after suffering a heart attack. The funeral rites were held on December 17 at the Cathedral of Yongping (Tangshan), presided by the diocesan Bishop, Mgr. Peter Fang Jianping. The burial has not yet taken place.
Mgr. Liu was born on December 26, 1920 in Huanghuagang, in the Diocese of Yongping, he came from a very devout Catholic family. He entered the minor Seminary in Yongping in 1931, in 1939 he began his studies in philosophy and theology at the Wensheng major Seminary of the Archdiocese of Beijing. He was ordained a priest on May 4, 1945 by the Archbishop of Beijing, Mgr. Paul Leon Cornelius Montaigne, C.M., and then returned to his Diocese to carry out his pastoral ministry in Lulong, in Tangshan and other places.
From 1940 to 1960 he was imprisoned three times. From 1970 to 1979 he was sent to a re-education camp where he carried out forced labor, first in a textile factory, then in a chemical factory, and finally in a stone quarry. Immediately after being released, he resumed his pastoral activity. He was consecrated Bishop on December 21, 1981 without a pontifical mandate. He sent several requests for forgiveness to the Holy Father with the relevant claim of legitimacy, which was granted on 8 May 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI, restoring his full communion with the Successor of Peter. He retired from the pastoral ministry in 2010 because of poor health. In the last years of his life, he categorically refused to take part in illegitimate episcopal ordinations, giving a sign of communion and obedience to the Apostolic See. The diocesan community prayed the Lord to receive the Bishop’s soul in his kingdom, giving the Diocese of Yongping and his faithful, the gift of consolation. (Agenzia Fides 19/12/2013)
