Mattia Pei Shangde, 83; Chinese Priest Jailed for Loyalty to Vatican

Msgr. Mattia Pei Shangde, 83, who had been under house arrest in China after a wave of arrests of leaders of the unapproved Roman Catholic Church in April, died Monday of kidney failure at a hospital in a city near Beijing.

China’s Communist rulers broke relations with the Vatican half a century ago. The state-sanctioned Patriotic Church does not recognize papal authority, including the right to name bishops. But millions of Chinese Catholics remained loyal to the pope and risk arrest by worshiping in underground churches.

Pei entered a seminary in Beijing at age 13. Ordained in 1948, he later taught in Catholic school in Beijing. After the Communists came to power, he was forced to work in a drug factory and later was sentenced to 10 years of reeducation and forced labor. He left prison in 1980.

Pei’s funeral will be Wednesday in his hometown Zhangjiapu, in the Zhou Lu district of Hebei province. Police have restricted attendance to village residents, which effectively bars any worshipers from Beijing.