He was 97 years old. He was ordained in 1991 in communion with the Holy See and with the approval of the Chinese government. Because of his faith, he was confined in a labor camp between 1966 and 1980. In 2011 he ousted the rector of the Shanxi major seminary for corruption, clashing with religious authorities that depend on the Chinese Communist Party.
Beijing () – Msgr. John Huo Cheng, bishop of the diocese of Fenyang, in the north-central province of Shanxi, has died. The local faithful ask for prayers for his soul.
Born on February 1, 1926, Msgr. Huo began practicing Taoism in 1939. On May 14, 1954, he graduated in Theology and was ordained a priest. In 1966, at the outbreak of the Maoist Cultural Revolution, the authorities imprisoned him in a forced labor camp for his religious beliefs: after much suffering, he was only released in 1980.
In communion with the Holy See and with the approval of the Chinese government, on September 4, 1991, he was ordained Bishop of Fenyang.
In September 2011, he was in the spotlight for a confrontation with the religious authorities that depend on the Chinese Communist Party. As president of the Shanxi Regional Major Seminary – named after the first archbishop of Beijing, the Franciscan Giovanni da Montecorvino – he dismissed who he was rector at the time.
Father Antonio Chang Tongxi had seized the funds for the seminary, but the Shanxi Religious Affairs Bureau wanted to keep him in his position, even going so far as to prevent the start of the school year.
At that time, some seminarians expressed to their bitterness at the government’s interference in an internal affair of the Church.
