Chinese bishop who took part in illicit ordinations dies

Archbishop John Wu Shizhen may have mended ties with Vatican prior to his death.

China:  Archbishop John Wu Shizhen of Nanchang has died at the age of 93, according to Vatican Radio and Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Fides described the prelate, who died in August, as a “zealous shepherd dedicated to formation of seminarians and women religious,” and both reported that he “led the local communities with pastoral zeal”.

Ordained to the priesthood in 1949, the prelate became Archbishop of Nanchang in 1990. His ministry was approved by the Chinese government.

In 2000 and again in 2006, Archbishop Wu helped consecrate bishops who were ordained without a papal mandate. In both cases, the Holy See warned of the severe canonical penalties attached to illicit episcopal ordinations.

The praise offered by semi-official Vatican agencies after the archbishop's death, however, suggests that the Chinese prelate -- like many other Catholic clerics recognized by the Chinese government -- had quietly mended his ties with the Holy See.

Source: Catholic World News