Odorico Liu Ho-Teh, 90; Vatican Official in China for 51 Years

Msgr. Odorico Liu Ho-Teh, 90, a Vatican vicar general in China who helped bridge relations between underground and state-sanctioned Catholic churches after being imprisoned by the Communist authorities, died Monday in Wuhan, China, of complications following a fall.

Liu, the vicar general in the central Chinese city of Hankou since 1950, had remained in China and loyal to the pope after the Vatican and Beijing broke formal relations in 1951. The rupture occurred after China’s new Communist rulers kicked out missionaries and forced Catholics to sever ties with Rome.

One of millions of Chinese Catholics who continued to worship in underground churches, Liu resisted the birth of China’s state-sanctioned church, the China Patriotic Catholic Assn., which doesn’t recognize papal authority, including the right to name bishops. As a result, he was arrested and in 1958 sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In the 1990s, Liu decided to reconcile with the Patriotic Church and its official bishop in Hankou, Msgr. Bernardine Dong Guangqing. His gesture made a strong impact within the Patriotic Church and helped strengthen relations between the underground and state-sanctioned churches.