Pacidus Pei, 91 -year -old Chinese Catholic Bishop dies who suffered jail and harassment of the communist regime for its faith

A 91 -year -old Chinese Catholic bishop, who suffered jail and constant harassment from the communist regime, died on Saturday, September 6. The faithful remember these words of his: “In China, follow the right path believing in God and maintaining pure faith inevitably leads to persecution.”

Mons. Placidus Pei Ronggui, clandestine bishop of the diocese of Luoyang, suffered jail at several times after 1988, due to its refusal to be part of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, an agency controlled by the Chinese Communist Party that holds power in the Asian giant.

As reported Asia Newsthe prelate was monk Trapense and knew the story of two abbeys who were in Hebei, province of which he was originally: one that was destroyed by the communist militias in 1947 and another in which 33 monks were killed and those who remained had to flee.

According Bitter Winter (Bitter winter), an institution dedicated to religious freedom and human rights in China, in 1950 P. PEI was appointed director of the Legion de María, a group dedicated to volunteering. In that position he dedicated himself to preaching and spreading the Gospel in the Tianjin region, located in the Northeast of China.

In December of that year he was arrested by the Chinese authorities, sentenced to 15 years in jail under the position of being “counterrevolutionary.” In prison he was forced to study the ideology of the Communist Party. When leaving the prison he was arrested by the police regularly to be indoctrinated.

He was ordained a priest in 1981, with 48 years, when the so -called “cultural revolution” of Mao ended, which led to the mass persecution of millions of people.

Bitter Winter also refers that on April 18, 1989, after Pei assumed the position of priest in the Catholic Church of Youtong, some 5000 police entered the village to destroy the provisional store that his church had placed for Easter. It is estimated that two people died, more than 300 were injured and 32 were arrested.

In 2003 and with the authorization of the Vatican, he was consecrated Bishop of Luoyang in Henan province. It was consecrated by Mons. Peter Li Hongye, another prelate that paid with jail his faithfulness to the Catholic Church.

When Mons. Li suddenly died of a heart attack in 2011 during the Pascual vigil, Mons. Pei retired and returned to his hebei village.

In 2016 he granted an interview with the Reuters agency, in which he said: “There can be no independent church in China because that is contrary to the principles of the Catholic Church. It is the Chinese government that must change; if they do not change, the Pope can never agree with them.”

Bitter Winter points out that, even withdrawn and old, the regime had two people who constantly monitored him.

The faithful in China, says Asia News, remember that “once he told us: ‘In China, follow the right path believing in God and maintaining pure faith inevitably leads to persecution. But if we suffer a little to give testimony of God, all that remains a blessing.