Francis Joseph Cui Qingqi (崔庆琪) is the

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hankou The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hankou ( la, Hancheuvensis, ) is a Latin Rite Metropolitan archdiocese, based in Hankou, Wuhan, Hubei, China. Its archiepiscopal see is the Cathedral of St. Joseph, in Hankou, Wuhan. It is since 1961, due to th ...

( Wuhan) in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. He was ordained as bishop on September 8, 2021.

Biography

He was born in Xiangyuan County in Shanxi Province of China in February 1964. He entered seminary to become a priest in Wuhan in 1987 and was ordained on 8 December 1991. In December 2012 Fr. Francis was appointed as the administrator of the Wuhan diocese and Vicar of the Cathedral, after the previous administrator of the diocese Father Shen Guoan was dismissed for disloyalty to the Chinese government. In 2016 he was appointed as deputy secretary of the state-controlled (although not Vatican recognized) Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China.

Ordination

The Chinese government amalgamated three neighbouring dioceses, including the Archdiocese of Hankou, into the diocese of Wuhan, without approval from the Vatican. As a result, the bishops of Wuhan within the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Church are bishops of Wuhan, rather than archbishops of Hankou. In 2007,

Bernardine Dong Guangqing Bernardine Dong Guangqing (April 1, 1917 – May 12, 2007) was a Catholic Patriotic Association-associated Bishop of Wuhan, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most ...

who was the state-approved bishop of Wuhan died. In the same year Pope Benedict had issued a letter that recognized most of the state-approved bishops in China as being in communion with Rome and which tried to work towards progress in resolving the issues surrounding the difficult situation between the Vatican, the Chinese Catholic Church and the Chinese government. The Chinese government did not select a new bishop for the unrecognized diocese of Wuhan after Bishop Bernardine's death in 2007. In 2018 a secret agreement was reached between the Vatican and the Chinese government that allowed for the recognition of all the state-approved bishops and the creation of a mutually agreed framework for the appointment of new bishops. In September 2020, Fr. Francis was nominated by the government to become the new bishop of Wuhan. In June 2021, Pope Francis gave his approval to the ordination. He was ordained on September 8 (the feast of the birth of the Virgin Mary) at

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Wuhan St. Joseph's Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral located in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It was completed in 1876, shut down during the Cultural Revolution, and re-opened in 1980. The cathedral is located at 16 Shanghai Road, Wuhan. Architecture Accordin ...

, which was also the previous seat of the Archbishop of Hankou. His principal consecrator was Ma Yinglin of the archdiocese of Kunming. Co-consecrators were Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of the

archdiocese of Beijing The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing ( la, Archidioecesis Pechimensis) is a Metropolitan Latin archdiocese in the People's Republic of China. Special churches Its cathedral is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (South Church) l ...

and Bishop

Shen Bin Joseph Shen Bin (born 23 February 1970) is a Chinese prelate of the Catholic Church who serves as Bishop of Shanghai and president of Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. He was Bishop of Haimen from 2010 to 2023. Biography Joseph Shen Bin w ...

of the diocese of Haimen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cui, Francis, Qingqi 1964 births Living people 20th-century Chinese Roman Catholic priests 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in China Xiangyuan County People from Changzhi Chinese Roman Catholic archbishops