Julius Jia Zhiguo (born 5 June 1934) is an underground

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in the People's Republic of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Bishop Jia was ordained priest on 7 June 1980 and consecrated bishop half year later, on 19 December 1980. He had been jailed for as long as 20 years, but had been released before he disappeared. During his confinement at home, his requests for medical treatment were denied by Chinese authorities. In March 2004, the

Cardinal Kung Foundation The Cardinal Kung Foundation is a not-for-profit Catholic organization based in Stamford, Connecticut. Founded in 1994 by Joseph Kung, nephew of the late Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei, the foundation monitors the treatment of Catholics in China a ...

sent out a press release detailing the disappearance of Bishop Jia of

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

Province in central China. Newspapers picked up the story, and within a week of Mr. Kung's press release, the bishop was freed. In 2008, he was arrested again by local authorities on the morning of August 24, the twelfth such arrest since January 2004. In 2009, Chinese police re-arrested Bishop Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding, the most prominent leader of the Chinese "underground Church." The arrest came just as a special

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

commission met in Rome to consider the situation facing the Church in China. Zhiguo was once again arrested by authorities in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jia, Julius, Zhiguo 1934 births Living people 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in China 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in China

See also

References