HONG KONG - Cardinal John Baptist Wu, who led Hong Kong's Roman Catholic Church through the sensitive transition from British to Chinese rule, died Monday of complications from bone marrow cancer. He was 77.
Wu is to be succeeded by his subordinate and No. 2 church leader, Bishop Joseph Zen, a vocal critic of Beijing who has been barred from visiting mainland China since 1998, two years after he was made a bishop.
Zen's outspokenness has raised concerns that the Catholic Church's relationship with the government might deteriorate after he takes over from Wu.
However, Rev. Louis Ha, director of Hong Kong Catholic Social Communications Office, sought to dispel such speculation on Monday.
"We need to express our opinion, but we won't defy any government decision," Ha said.
There are 347,000 Roman Catholics living in Hong Kong. Under Wu's leadership, the church had already occasionally ventured into sensitive political territory, drawing on civil liberties guaranteed to Hong Kong when the British colony reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
Born in 1925 in the mainland, Wu was ordained in 1952, named a bishop in 1975 and appointed Hong Kong's first-ever cardinal in 1988.
Two years ago, Wu led a thanksgiving service attended by more than 1,000 people to mark the Vatican's canonization of 120 missionaries killed in China. Mainland officials said the canonization was "an open insult."
Wu and Zen both have spoken out in defense of the spiritual group Falun Gong, which is banned on the mainland but remains legal here. The church has also urged the local government to grant residency rights to mainland-Chinese-born children of legal residents who were ordered deported in a key court ruling.
When younger children entangled in legal battles for residency were denied schooling here, Bishop Zen urged Hong Kong's 300 Catholic schools to take in the children — even if that meant civil disobedience. The government backed down.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post published Sunday, Zen blasted the Hong Kong leadership for its "toadying" political culture, accusing local officials of violating their consciences to please Beijing.
Zen said he spoke out of concern for religious freedom and human rights. "We do not want to see Hong Kong becoming like any other city in the mainland... So we have to speak out at once if we see any freedom being jeopardized," he was quoted as saying.
In recent years, though, the church's reputation has been far from spotless.
Church officials were widely criticized following the disclosures in May of eight alleged child sexual abuse cases committed by priests working here.
Although the church vowed a "zero tolerance" policy toward child sex abuse, police said the church appeared to have been shielding alleged pedophile priests rather than taking action to protect the victims.
The church said it plans a vigil mass on Friday and a requiem mass on Saturday following Wu's burial.
Hong Kong's political leader, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, said Monday he was "deeply grieved" by Wu's death and expressed his condolences to the church.
"He had worked tirelessly to serve the Catholic community and made great contributions to the well-being of Hong Kong people," Tung said in a statement.
Pope John Paul II expressed his "heartfelt condolences" in a message to the Hong Kong diocese.
"I am certain that his memory will live on in the community he so faithfully served, inspiring all to ever greater generosity in Christian living," the message said.
Wu was the third cardinal to die this month. His death reduced to 115 the number of cardinals under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave for a pope.