Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, underground Catholic leader jailed for Vatican loyalty, dies at 91. Defied China’s state church; funeral Oct. 31.
Newsroom (30/10/2025, Gaudium Press ) Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, a steadfast leader of China’s underground Catholic Church who endured decades of imprisonment for his allegiance to the Vatican, died Oct. 29 of age-related illness. He was 91.
His funeral is scheduled for Oct. 31 in Jinzhou, church sources told UCA News.
“Bishop Jia was a faithful servant of God, unafraid of authority for the sake of faith, and persevered until his end,” said a Chinese priest who knew him closely.
Born in Wuqiu Village, Jinzhou, Bishop Jia was first imprisoned in 1963 and spent approximately 15 years behind bars for refusing to renounce his loyalty to the pope.
Ordained a priest in 1980, he was clandestinely consecrated bishop of Zhengding in 1981 by Bishop Joseph Fan Xueyan of Baoding.
Throughout his ministry, Bishop Jia resisted pressure to join the state-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), which the government established to oversee Catholics independent of the Vatican.
His defiance prompted repeated arrests and surveillance, including more than 10 detentions — four between 2004 and 2020.
Church accounts say he was tortured in prison; authorities allegedly flooded his cell with water, causing bone spurs that afflicted him for life.
The latest series of arrests began in 2004, when he vanished after detention in Hebei Province, sparking international concern. He was released a week later after the Connecticut-based Cardinal Kung Foundation publicized his disappearance.
He was detained again in 2008, 2009 and, most recently, in August 2020 — days before the Feast of the Assumption.
Bishop Jia also founded an orphanage in Hebei for abandoned children; authorities demolished it in 2020, citing lack of government approval.
The Zhengding Diocese, in northern China’s Hebei region, is home to an estimated 1.5 million Catholics — one of the country’s largest concentrations of believers.
The diocese remains part of the “underground Church,” which operates without official recognition despite the 2018 provisional Sino-Vatican agreement on bishop appointments.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCA News
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