THOUSANDS OF Catholics attended the funeral in China last week of a 90-year-old Catholic bishop who was described on his parish website as being "a bishop loyal to the Pope and a patriotic Chinese".

The funeral of Bishop Augustine Zheng Shouduo of Xinjiang started with a procession from St Anthony's Cathedral in Xinjiang, southwest of Beijing. Thousands walked behind the coffin as it made its way to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church in Poli, a Catholic village in the suburbs where the bishop lived for many years. The main celebrant at the service, attended by several government officials, was Bishop Joseph Li Hongguang, Bishop Zheng's former coadjutor, and many other bishops and priests concelebrated.

Bishop Zheng, who remained loyal to the Vatican but was approved by the Government, died of natural causes on  16 July. After being accused of counter-revolutionary crimes in 1964, he spent  15 years in a reform-through-labour  camp.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is to go to China for the first time later this year, visiting five cities including Beijing, at the invitation of senior leaders of the Chinese Protestant Church.