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BEIJING (AP) - Bishop Fu Tieshan, the chairman of China's state-sanctioned Catholic Church, died Friday, state media said. He was 76.
The state-backed church, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, refuses to recognize the Vatican's authority, but many clergy and ordinary Catholics remain loyal to the pope and have been persecuted for it.
The People's Daily newspaper said Fu died in a Beijing hospital on Friday night but gave no cause of death. Fu was also a vice chairman to the standing committee of China's legislature, the National People's Congress.
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