A funeral mass for Bishop Jin Peixian was held on Saturday in the Nanguan Church in this capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, a diocese where the bishop once served.

The mass was attended by more than 4,000 people, including officials from the Liaoning provincial government and the Shenyang municipal government, representatives from religious societies and Jin's congregation.

The mass was conducted by the incumbent bishop of Liaoning, Paul Pei Junmin, who took over from Jin in June.

"Bishop Jin was patriotic and loyal to the Catholic religion," said Pei.

He said that Jin will be cremated and his remains will be escorted by priests to the Tieling Catholic Graveyard in Liaoning on Sunday.

Jin died on Nov. 4 at age 84. He had held the title of vice president of the Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China.

Pei said as the conference leader, Jin had not only served the Liaoning diocese but also churches elsewhere in the country.

"Bishop Jin used his world exchanges to manifest a decent image of China's religious society and help people around the world to know more about churches in China," said Bishop Pei.

Both Jin and his successor received papal approval before their respective episcopal ordinations in 1989 and 2006.

Jin was born into a Catholic family on March 16, 1924. He entered the minor seminary at the age of 12 and then studied at major seminaries in Shenyang, Changchun, Beijing and Hong Kong.

His ordination in Shanghai in 1951 came two years after the founding of new China. During the Cultural Revolution (1967-1977), he was victimized as a prisoner and only returned to the Fushun parish in Liaoning in 1980. He won a popular vote to become the bishop of Liaoning diocese in 1989.

Wu Yuxiang, an official from the Liaoning provincial administration for religious affairs, spoke highly of the bishop.

"Bishop Jin upheld China's basic religious policies and contributed to the building of a harmonious political and religious environment. Under his leadership, Catholic believers in Liaoning have exerted themselves in the building of a harmonious society," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2008)