Thaddeus Ma Daqin (; born 1968, Shanghai, China) is a

Chinese Catholic The Catholic Church in China (called Tiānzhǔ Jiào, 天主敎, literally "Religion of the Lord of Heaven" after the Chinese term for the Christian God) has a long and complicated history. John of Montecorvino was the first Roman Catholic ...

prelate who served as Bishop of Shanghai from 2014 until 2023. He was appointed as auxiliary bishop with the approval of the Holy See and Chinese Government in July 2012.Catholic.org
; Bishops who are not Ordinaries of Sees; retrieved 26 January 2014 Daqin announced his resignation from the Chinese government mandated

Catholic Patriotic Association The Catholic Patriotic Association (), abbreviated CPA, is a state-sanctioned organization of Catholicism in the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1957 after a group of Chinese Catholics met in Beijing with officials from the Chi ...

at his episcopal ordination Mass, and was taken into custody as a result. The Chinese Government has detained him under house arrest ever since (largely confined to Sheshan Seminary) and has prevented him from carrying out his episcopal duties.Ucanews Directory
; retrieved 26 January 2014 The Chinese government unilaterally appointed a new bishop of Shanghai in April 2023.

Early life and priesthood

Ma was born in Shanghai and was ordained as a priest in 1994, after graduating from the

Sheshan Seminary Sheshan, formerly known as Zose, is a pair of hills in Songjiang District in western Shanghai, China. The two hills are distinguished as East and , although the more important western hill is also called Sheshan on its own. East Sheshan has an e ...

. He is a former editor of the Shanghai Diocese's ''Guangqi Press'', one of the two main Catholic publishers in the People's Republic of China. He served as head of Shanghai Pudong Deanery and, in December 2011, was appointed as Vicar General by Bishop

Aloysius Jin Luxian Aloysius Jin Luxian (; June 20, 1916 – April 27, 2013) was a Roman Catholic bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shanghai. Biography Bishop Aloysius Jin was born in Shanghai into a family that had been Catholic for generations. He wa ...

Bishop

In 1951, the Chinese government severed formal ties with the Vatican, and by Chinese law Catholic worship is only permitted in government-controlled churches. Many of China's estimated 10 million Catholics are believed to have remained loyal to the Pope, gathering in underground churches.Reports: Chinese bishop detained after shunning Party control
. CNN, 11 July 2013 The Chinese government claims the authority to approve and appoint bishops. In 2012, Ma received the approval of both Beijing and the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

for appointment as an Auxiliary Bishop of Shanghai. On 7 July 2012 was consecrated a bishop. In Shanghai's

St. Ignatius Cathedral St. Ignatius Cathedral (), also known as the Xujiahui Cathedral () or the Xujiahui Catholic Church (), is a Roman Catholic cathedral, located in Xujiahui, Shanghai, China. Since 1960, St Ignatius has been the seat of the Bishop of Shanghai and ...

, in front of a congregation which included Communist Party officials, Ma used his ordination speech to announce his resignation from the

.China's detained bishop Ma 'given political lessons'
. BBC, 23 December 2013 ; Ordination as Auxiliary Bishop and House Arrest Catholic priests and nuns had gathered outside the Cathedral in protest at the participation of Vincent Zhan Silu in the ceremony. Zhan had been appointed "bishop" without the approval of the Vatican, and was loyal to the Patriotic Association. Bishop Jin and two other Vatican affirmed bishops performed the "laying on of hands" ritual to invoke the Holy Spirit during the ceremony. Zhan and two other bishops were also supposed to perform the ritual, but, according to Reuters, Ma "prevented them from putting their hands on his head by rising from his knees and hugging the three bishops instead."
AsiaNews.it; 12 October 2012 Speaking from the pulpit, Ma then acknowledged the presence of the priests and nuns outside the cathedral, before speaking of the need for him to now focus on the pastoral duties of bishop rather than the bureaucratic duties of a Patriotic Association bishop: "Therefore, starting from this day of consecration, I will no longer find it convenient to be a member of the Patriotic Association," he said.Sui Lee Wee;
Special Report: The Bishop who stood up to China
'; Reuters; 31 Mar 2014 He also refused to share a chalice with a bishop who has been excommunicated by the Roman Church. Ma's words drew loud applause from the 1,000-member congregation, but was seen by the government as a challenge to state control of Catholic churches and clergy. According to Reuters, Ma soon disappeared from public view, "instructed by the late bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian to move to a mountainside seminary outside Shanghai, where he has been confined... He was stripped of his new title, questioned by officials for weeks and required to attend communist indoctrination classes." ; Appointment as Bishop of Shanghai In December 2013, the BBC reported that Bishop Ma had not seen in public for almost 18 months and that during his confinement at Sheshan Seminary, he was being given "political lessons – communist indoctrination by any other name – three times a week". Upon the death of Bishop

Joseph Fan Zhongliang Joseph Fan Zhongliang S.J. (; 18 December 1918 – 16 March 2014), also known as Josephus Vei Zong Leong, was a Chinese Roman Catholic bishop in the Diocese of Shanghai in China. Life Fan was baptised aged 14. He joined the Jesuits in 1938 and be ...

on 16 March 2014, the Holy See recognized Bishop Ma as the Bishop of the

Diocese of Shanghai The Roman Catholic Diocese of Shanghai ( la, Dioecesis Sciamhaevensis; ) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the Municipality of Shanghai, China. It was erected on December 13, 1933 as the Apostolic Vicar ...

. That month Reuters reported that Ma remained at the Sheshan Seminary, regularly posting blog items for the faithful: "mostly excerpts from scripture and greetings to his flock." After the death of Nelson Mandela, Ma cited one of the anti-Apartheid leader's most famous quotes: "Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all my people were the chains on me."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Thaddeus, Daqin 1968 births Roman Catholic bishops in Shanghai Persecution of Catholics Anti-Christian sentiment in China Prisoners and detainees of the People's Republic of China 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in China Living people Religious persecution by communists

Early life and priesthood

Bishop

See also

References