Chinese Catholics Seek Answers to Bishop’s Fate

HONG KONG — For the better part of the last 60 years, Bishop Cosma Shi Enxiang was imprisoned in Chinese jails and labor camps. For the last 14, he was held without charge in a secret location.

His offense: refusing to renounce his loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church, which ordained him in 1947.

Now, as unconfirmed reports of his death have emerged, Bishop Shi, who was to turn 94 this month, may face the gravest indignity of all. No announcement of his passing. No body for his family members to bury. No urn with his ashes.

The Chinese government has been so secretive about Bishop Shi’s detention that there is no certainty that he is dead.

The Catholic news agency UCANews reported the bishop’s death on Feb. 2, citing his great-niece Shi Chunyan, who said the family had been informed by a local official. But a Hong Kong-based reporter for the agency, Lucia Cheung, said that after the family approached the local authorities to recover the bishop’s remains, they were told that the official who had told them he was dead had been drunk, or misinformed.

The diocese of Hong Kong is appealing to Beijing to free Bishop Su and to release Bishop Shi’s body for burial if he has died.

On Saturday, the diocese plans a protest march to the Chinese government’s liaison office in Hong Kong to demand that the authorities release information on their whereabouts.

“Bishop Shi and Bishop Su sacrificed themselves,” the diocese said in its letter. “They’ve endured lifelong sufferings for the sake of religious freedom. We pay high respect to their great souls!”

Kiki Zhao contributed research.

The New York Times