On Saturday, September 6, Mons. Placidus Pei Ronggui, the clandestine bishop of the diocese of Luoyang, passed away at the age of 91. The prelate spent decades of his life under surveillance, harassment, and imprisonment imposed by the communist regime for refusing to join the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the organization controlled by the Communist Party. According to Asia News, the faithful recalled one of his most emblematic phrases: “In China, following the right path by believing in God and maintaining a pure faith inevitably leads to persecution.”
Trappist monk marked by violence
As a young man, Pei was a Trappist monk in Hebei, the province where he was from. He experienced communist violence firsthand: an abbey was destroyed by militias in 1947, and in another, 33 monks were killed, forcing the survivors to flee.
In 1950, according to Bitter Winter, he was appointed director of the Legion of Mary in Tianjin, where he dedicated himself to preaching and evangelization. That same year, he was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of being a “counterrevolutionary.” During his imprisonment, he was subjected to ideological indoctrination.
Priestly ordination in difficult times
After Mao’s “Cultural Revolution,” he was ordained a priest in 1981, at the age of 48. The repression continued. Bitter Winter documents that in April 1989, while serving in the Youtong parish, about 5,000 police raided to destroy the provisional tent set up for Easter. The operation left two dead, more than 300 injured, and 32 detained.
Consecrated clandestine bishop
In 2003, with authorization from the Holy See, he was consecrated coadjutor bishop of Luoyang by Mons. Peter Li Hongye, another prelate who had spent years in prison for his fidelity to the Church. After Li’s sudden death in 2011, Mons. Pei retired to his village in Hebei, though he was never free from the regime’s surveillance, which kept agents posted in front of his house, according to Bitter Winter.
Testimony against submission to the State
In an interview given to Reuters in 2016, Mons. Pei declared: “An independent Church cannot exist in China because that is contrary to the principles of the Catholic Church. It is the Chinese government that must change; if they do not change, the Pope will never be able to agree with them.”
Remembrance by the faithful
The Catholics of his diocese, quoted by Asia News, recall with gratitude his teaching: “If we suffer a little to bear witness to God, all that remains a blessing.” Now they ask for prayers for his soul and trust in his intercession.