China’s oldest priest dies at 104: a life of faith amid 25 years of persecution

St. Francis Xavier statue in front St. Joseph Cathedral in Beijing, China, Feb. 25, 2016. / Credit: Zvonimir Atletic/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 8, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

China’s oldest priest has passed away, leaving behind a legacy of brave adherence to the faith of the Catholic Church in the face of persecution. 

Father Joseph Guo Fude, SVD, died on Dec. 30, 2024, two months from what would have been his 105th birthday. He was one of the few remaining Catholic priests in China who had been ordained prior to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

“Father Guo is a symbol of the courageous faith and extraordinary suffering of China’s Catholics,” Benedict Rogers, human rights activist and author of “The China Nexus: Thirty Years in and Around the Chinese Communist Party’s Tyranny,” told CNA.

Rogers noted that although the priest had “spent a quarter of a century in prison,” he continued serving and ministering to his people through his 90s. “He treated prison not as the harsh injustice that it was but as an opportunity to grow in faith, spirituality, and prayer.”

According to AsiaNews, which reported the Chinese cleric’s passing, Guo spent a total of 25 years in prison during his lifetime.

“Looking back on my life,” Guo reportedly wrote following the occasion of his 100th birthday, “prison became a place where I could reflect, pray, and grow spiritually … My imprisonment gave me the strength to face life’s challenges and continue to serve God, knowing that every trial was part of his divine plan. My experience in prison taught me that earthly riches are ephemeral, while faith in God is the only true wealth.”

Born in February 1920, Guo was ordained to the priesthood in 1947. He was first imprisoned in 1959 during China’s ideological reform movement for “subversive activity against the state.” He was imprisoned a second time from 1967 to 1979 on espionage charges and again in 1982 “for spreading the faith,” according to AsiaNews.

“As we reflect on Father Guo’s remarkable and inspirational life,” Rogers added, “let us take this opportunity to pray for the persecuted Church in China, advocate for religious freedom, and be guided by Father Guo’s example of persistent, determined, steadfast, and defiant faith in the face of brutal repression.”

This past fall, the Vatican renewed its agreement with China on the appointment of Catholic bishops for another four years. Despite the appearance of friendlier relations on the surface, a report published in October 2024 by the Hudson Institute found that the “religious repression of the Catholic Church in China has intensified” since the deal went into effect in 2018.

“Father Guo’s story is typical of Catholic clerics who lived during the Mao years,” Hudson Institute policy expert Nina Shea told CNA. “They all seem to have spent many years in prisons and labor camps and suffered greatly.”

As for the current state of Vatican-China affairs, Shea recently reported on the plight of 10 bishops who have faced persecution at the hands of the CCP. Injustices in the report include “indefinite detention without due process, disappearances, open-ended security police investigations, banishments from their dioceses, or other impediments to their episcopal ministries including threats, surveillance, interrogation, and so-called reeducation.”