ASIA/CHINA - Bishops in mourning

Shijiazhuang (Agenzia Fides) - On 15 November, 2010, Bishop Paul Jiang Taoran died, aged 84, bishop emeritus who had exercised his episcopal ministry in Shijiazhuang, in the diocese of Zhengding (Hebei Province, mainland China). Recently admitted to a hospital in Shijiazhuang for a serious cold, he died as a result of cardiac complications.

Bishop Jiang was born on 27 July, 1926, in Qingyuan County, in the diocese of Baoding. After completing his studies in philosophy and theology in Beijing, he was ordained a priest in 1953. After carrying out his priestly ministry in Beijing and Hebei for a few years, after 1957 he was forced to work as an employee in a hospital until 1966, when he was sentenced to work in the “Laogai”. In 1982 he returned to pastoral ministry and on 21 May 1989 he was consecrated a Bishop without a pontifical mandate. On 8 May, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI, accepting his appeal, granted him full communion, without conceding canonical jurisdiction. The faithful noted that Bishop Jiang made some gestures of willingness and cooperation in respect of the legitimate Bishop of Zhengding, Bishop Giulio Jia Zhiguo.

In the diocese of Zhengding there are more than 150,000 Catholics, about 100 priests, about sixty churches and many other places of worship, more than 60 seminarians, various religious congregations and some social societies. (Agenzia Fides 23/12/2010)