Beijing's response to what it views as foreign interference in its internal affairs was to take an elderly Roman Catholic bishop residing under permanent house arrest out of his home and place him into prison. Bishop Jia of Zhengding has served over twenty years in prison and has endured numerous arrests, incarcerations and periods of intense re-education in the years since his release. During the Olympic Summer Games last August, he was arrested and imprisoned just hours before the closing ceremonies because the government learned that a foreign reporter was attempting to meet him. Rather than risk an interview, the government hid Jia in its prison system until after all the press were gone. The meeting in Rome lasted just a  few days, but Bishop Jia has yet to resurface. Bishop Jia is the ongoing reality behind the fictional title character of The Secret Cardinal.