A Catholic  bishop who has been in and out of Chinese  detention for the past 60 years is believed to have died in a secret location only the Chinese government knew.

Bishop Cosma Shi Enxiang was imprisoned in Chinese jails and labor camps for the better part of the last 60 years for refusing to renounce his loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church who ordained him in 1947.

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For the last 14 years, Shi was held without charge and  taken to a secret location by Chinese authorities where  his diocese and family believed he was tortured and eventually died.

As unconfirmed reports about his death have emerged, Bishop Shi may face the greatest indignity of all -- no remains for his family to bury, no announcement of his passing, and no ashes contained in an urn.

Reports said the Chinese government has been so secretive of his location that his death remains unconfirmed.

UCNA, the Catholic News Agency, had announced his death last February 2 based on the statement of Shi's great niece Shi Chunyan who said that a government official told her that the bishop is dead.

But a report from a journalist who tried to confirm Shi's death said that when the family tried to recover Shi's body, they were told that the official who purportedly reported Shi's death was drunk at the time he made the announcement.

Bishop Shi, who was to turn 94 this month,  is one of the disappearing breed of Catholic bishops appointed by the Vatican decades ago and who refused to kowtow to the state-sponsored Catholic Church and who remained loyal to the pope.

Several Catholic bishops who are into their 80s and 90s are still being closely monitored by Chinese authorities. Reports said one is still imprisoned while two others are under close surveillance by the Chinese police.

The bishop's fate in China  is reportedly one of the obstacles that continue to hinder the re-establishment of the centuries-old  China-Vatican ties which have been severed after the victory of the Communist party in 1949.

"The Chinese government thinks the forced disappearances would scare people and stabilize the society, but this action will only lead to a more unstable and uncivilized society,"  said the Vatican-appointed  Hong Kong diocese in its open letter to the Chinese government last Wednesday, seeking answers to the whereabouts of Bishop Shi.

Reports said Beijing continues to insist that the state-controlled church should appoint Catholic bishops but the Vatican has been vocal about its refusal and found the insistence unacceptable.

Just as Beijing chooses to appoint Catholic bishops, it also wants to to appoint Tibetan Buddhist Monks like the Dalai Lama.

The precarious situation has prevented Beijing and the Holy See to forge diplomatic ties and observers said it will take a long time before the two entities can  re-establish bilateral relations.

TagsBishop Cosma Shi Enxiang, Vatican, Catholic Church, Pope