Anthony Li Du'an ( zh, s=李笃安, t=李篤安, p = Lǐ Dǔ'ān, 192725 May 2006) was a Chinese

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest and former bishop of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Xi'an The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Xi'an ( la, Singanen(sis), ) is an archdiocese located in the city of Xi’an (Shaanxi) in China. History * April 12, 1911: Established as Apostolic Vicariate of Central Shensi 陝西中境 from the Apostolic Vica ...

Biography

Li was baptized when he was young. In 1938, he entered Xi'an's seminary. On 11 April 1951, he was ordained, and in the same year, he was appointed as the vice-dean of St. Francis Cathedral, Xi'an. Li was imprisoned around the time of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. However, various sources provide conflicting information about the date of Li's imprisonment. According to Vatican Radio, he was imprisoned during 1954–57, 1958–60, and 1966–79. According to AsiaNews, Li underwent

reform through labor ''Laogai'' (), short for ''laodong gaizao'' (), which means reform through labor, is a criminal justice system involving the use of penal labor and prison farms in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and North Korea (DPRK). ''Láogǎi'' i ...

in 1960–63 and 1963–79. In 1980–87, Li was the dean of the Catholic church at Gongyi (), Lintong, Shaanxi. In April 1987, Li was elected archbishop of Xi'an through the "self-election and self-consecration" process ( zh, s=自选自圣). During his episcopate, Li led the Xi'an archdiocese to expand to 60 parishes and 20,000 believers. In November 1987, Li was elected the vice-president of the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) of Shaanxi and the commissioner of Shaanxi's Catholic Committee of Religious Affairs ( zh, s=陕西省天主教教务委员会). In May 1990, Li was elected the president of the CPA of Xi'an. In December 1991, when the was founded, Li was appointed the inaugural president. In the final two years of his life, Li had

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

. On 25 May 2006 in Xi'an, Li died at the Shaanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital in Xi'an. He was accompanied by the auxiliary bishop, Anthony Dang Mingyan, and other priests and laity. Li was buried on 31 May at the Catholic church of Gongyi, Lintong.

Views and activism on China–Holy See relations

In 2003, the

Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions or PIME ( la, Pontificium Institutum pro Missionibus Exteris; it, Pontificio Istituto Missioni Estere) is a society of secular priests and lay people who dedicate their lives to missionary activitie ...

published an interview with Li. In the interview, Li acknowledged the

papal supremacy Papal supremacy is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the Pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, the visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful, and as pastor of the ...

, and claimed that the most pressing problem was electing new bishops. He argued for the importance of bishops, and asserted that the Catholic Patriotic Association should be under the leadership of bishops. He believed that it was the best time to evangelize in China, and was confident in younger Chinese bishops. In 2005,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

invited Li and three other Chinese bishops to Rome to attend the Synod on the Eucharist, but the Chinese government did not let them attend. The pope sent

ecclesiastical ring An ecclesiastical ring is a finger ring worn by clergy, such as a bishop's ring. As pontifical accoutrements In Western Christianity, rings are worn by bishops as well as other clerics who are given the privilege of wearing pontifical vestment ...

s to Li and the three other bishops to signify that they were a part of the synod. Li wore the ring when he died in 2006. On 30 April and 3 May 2006, Li attended the consecration of two bishops in China. Both consecrations were without papal approval. Later in the same year, in an interview with the ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

'', Li acknowledged that he was uncertain whether the consecrations would harm the potential relationship between China and the Holy See. Although he recognized that the consecration of bishops posed a challenge for both parties, he speculated that China and the Vatican could establish diplomatic relations within five years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Du'an 1927 births 2006 deaths 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in China Chinese Roman Catholic archbishops