Joseph Wei Jingyi (; born May 1958) is a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Catholic priest and the current bishop of the

Apostolic Prefecture of Qiqihar The Apostolic Prefecture of Qiqihar (or Tsitsikar) () is a Latin Church missionary jurisdiction in Heilongjiang province, China. Its cathedral episcopal see is the Cathedral of St. Michael in the city of Qiqihar. It is exempt, i.e. directly subje ...

since 2000.

Biography

Wei was born in Qingyuan County,

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

, in May 1958, to a Catholic family. During the three years of natural disasters, his family moved to Shulan County,

Jilin Province Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea ( Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

. After high school in 1976, he became a worker and two years later became a salesperson in a supply and marketing cooperative. In 1983 he was accepted to Jilin Seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1985. He began to spread

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

in 1986. On December 7, 1987, he was arrested by the local government for printing Catholic publications. A few months later he was released. On September 21, 1990, he was arrested and imprisoned for attending underground Roman Catholic church. He was released after reeducation through labour. In January 1994 he was arrested by the Xushui County Public Security Bureau in Hebei province. On June 22, 1995, he was elected

Coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

of the

. On August 1, 2000, he was elected Bishop of Apostolic Prefecture of Qiqihar. In 2002 he was received by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in the

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

. In October 2005,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

invited four Chinese bishops to attend the World Bishop Conference in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, including Joseph Wei Jingyi.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Joseph, Jingyi 1958 births People from Baoding Living people 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in China