Osservatore Romano: underground bishop, "shepherd who gives his life for his sheep"

"Ordained Bishop February 19, 2002 – the article continues - in July 2006 he was again arrested by police following the consecration of a new church in Guyuan County, and spent another thirty months in prison. Once freed, but always under close supervision, he was able to commit himself to the affairs of the diocese despite many difficulties. Every week more than a thousand faithful attended his Sunday Mass celebrations"

The Vatican newspaper also emphasizes that "after the death of Bishop Yao, civil authorities have banned the Catholic community from honouring him with the title 'bishop', requiring them to use the term “underground pastor”.

The obituary recalls that in 2009, 6 other bishops died. For them, the article concludes with the words of the Book of Wisdom: ‘But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace.  For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself.  As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself ‘ (3, 1-6).