NANYANG (UCAN): Bishop Joseph Zhu Baoyu of Nanyang, in southwest China, believed to be the oldest person in the world to have survived the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection when he recovered in February, died in his sleep at the age of 98 on May 7, diocesan sources said.
Officials allowed only 40 people to attend the May 9 funeral, celebrated by his successor Bishop Pietro Jin Lugang. The movement of people was also restricted and parishioners banned from taking photographs.
Bishop Zhu was diagnosed with pneumonia on February 3 and admitted to the central hospital in Nanyang where he tested positive for Covid-19. When he was discharged on February 14, he was reportedly the oldest person to have recovered from the disease (Sunday Examiner, March 1).
The bishop also suffered from an irregular heartbeat and a lung disorder.
Bishop Jin, is the first bishop of the unofficial Church to be publicly accepted by the Chinese government following the September 2018 China-Vatican agreement on the appointment of bishops. He automatically succeeded Bishop Zhu following his death.
Father Sergio Ticozzi of Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, who knew Bishop Zhu for many years, said that a nun told him that even on the day before his death, the bishop recited prayers with nuns and blessed them. He said that the bishop was in a wheelchair when he visited him two years ago.
He described Bishop Zhu as a “down-to-earth and humble” person. When he was in good health, he used to walk and take public transport to visit parishioners as he was very active in pastoral work.
Some parishioners who visited Bishop Zhu in recent years said that the bishop enjoyed simple food and lived with the bare minimum of facilities.
Bishop Zhu was born on 2 July 1921, in Pushan, Nanyang city. His father died when he was six-years-old. He grew up in an orphanage and was baptised at the age of eight.
He was ordained a priest in 1957 by Bishop Fan Xueyan of Baoding, in Hebei.
Bishop Zhu was imprisoned by communist authorities and was subjected to forced labour for nearly 20 years.
He was secretly ordained as coadjutor bishop for the Diocese of Nanyang at the age of 73, on the feast of St. Joseph’s on 19 March 1995. He was appointed bishop on 21 November 2002 at 18-years-old.
Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation in 2010.
