Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding, a leading figure in China’s underground Catholic Church who endured decades of imprisonment and government surveillance for his unwavering loyalty to the Vatican, has died at the age of 91.
Church sources confirmed that Bishop Jia passed away on October 29 from age-related illness. His funeral is scheduled for October 31 in Jinzhou.
“Bishop Jia was a faithful servant of God, unafraid of authority for the sake of faith, and persevered until the end,” said a Chinese priest who knew him closely.
Born in Wuqiu Village, Jinzhou, Bishop Jia was first imprisoned in 1963 and spent about 15 years in jail for refusing to renounce his allegiance to the Pope. He was ordained a priest in 1980 and clandestinely consecrated as bishop of Zhengding in 1981 by Bishop Joseph Fan Xueyan of Baoding.
Throughout his ministry, Bishop Jia resisted persistent pressure to join the government-run Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), created to control the Church independent of the Vatican. His defiance made him a target of repeated arrests, surveillance, and intimidation.
Over the decades, he was detained more than ten times — four of them between 2004 and 2020.
Reports from Church sources said he suffered torture in prison, including an incident where his cell was flooded with water, causing painful bone injuries that affected him for life.
In 2004, his disappearance following an arrest in Hebei Province drew international concern until he was released a week later, reportedly after advocacy from the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation. He was detained again in 2008, 2009, and most recently in August 2020, just days before the Feast of the Assumption.
Beyond his pastoral work, Bishop Jia founded an orphanage in Hebei for abandoned children, which authorities demolished in 2020 for lacking official approval.
Zhengding Diocese, located in northern China’s Hebei region, is home to an estimated 1.5 million Catholics — one of the country’s largest Catholic populations. Despite the 2018 provisional agreement between China and the Vatican on bishop appointments, the diocese remains part of the underground Church, continuing its mission without government recognition.
Bishop Jia a symbol of steadfast faith amid persecution and state control.
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