Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong

The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong (; la, Dioecesis Sciiamchiamensis) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church. The diocese takes its name from the see city, the metropolitan area where the bishop resides.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong is a ''de jure'' suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Guangzhou (Canton). However, in practice it is an immediate subject of the Holy See. Also in theory, not only Hong Kong, but also a small part of Guangdong province belongs to the diocese. In practice, however, the diocese only comprises the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

There were about 384,000 local Catholics as of August 2015, and 160,000 Filipino Catholics in Hong Kong. They are served by 223 priests, 26 deacons, 68 brothers and 474 sisters. There are 51 parishes, comprising 40 churches, 31 chapels and 26 halls for religious purposes including the celebration of the liturgy. As for education, in 2017 there are 251 Catholic schools and kindergartens, having a total of over 150,000 pupils.

History

The organisation of what would become the Diocese of Hong Kong began immediately after the establishment of Hong Kong as a British colony.

Prefecture Apostolic

In 1841 Pope Gregory XVI created a Prefecture Apostolic comprising "Hong Kong with the surrounding six leagues" independent from the Diocese of Macau, but under the authority of the Bishop of Macau. The initial need for the establishment of the prefecture was the spiritual care of the British (Irish Catholic) soldiers stationed in the newly established colony.

Theodore Joset, a Swiss diocesan priest, became the first Prefect Apostolic.

The prefecture functioned much as a mission, but was intended from its inception to become a diocese. In the first ten years, the missionaries built churches, schools, a seminary, and institutions for the sick, elderly, and orphans.

Following Joset's death in 1842, Anthony Feliciani became Prefect Apostolic of Hong Kong.

The foundation stone of the first church was laid in 1842. It was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception in 1843, enlarged in 1858–59, burnt down on 18 October 1859, rebuilt and blessed on 18 March 1860.

In 1858, the first missionaries, members of the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Milan (now PIME) arrived; they were designated to take over the administration of the mission in time.

By 1860, the physical territory had spread well beyond the initial six leagues surrounding Hong Kong to include the San On District (), the Kowloon Peninsula, Sai Kung Peninsula, and Nam Tau.

Vicariate Apostolic

In 1874 the Hong Kong Prefecture was raised to a Vicariate Apostolic and entrusted to the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Milan (now PIME). While the prefecture had been run by missionary priests, a vicariate was the intermediary step before becoming a diocese, and required a bishop to run it. Since the territory was not yet a diocese, the bishops were called "titular bishop" of another place (where they had no ecclesiastical authority). The bishops were under the direct authority of the Pope, exercising their power in his name, rather than being vested with the office belonging to a diocese.

The first Vicar Apostolic was Bishop Giovanni Timoleon Raimondi (consecrated 22 November 1874), who died at Mission House, Glenealy, Hong Kong, on 27 September 1894. He was succeeded by Bishops Louis Piazzoli (born 1849) and Dominic Pozzoni (born 1851) elected 26 May 1905.

In 1880, the vicariate hosted the first synod of the fifth ecclesiastical region of the Catholic Church in China; it hosted a second synod in 1891, and a third in 1909.

In 1883, the foundation stone of a new cathedral was laid. This is the present Immaculate Conception Cathedral. It was built in 1888 and consecrated in 1938.

The vicariate continued to grow. In 1913 it included 12 European and 10 native priests and 14,195 Christians; there were 26 churches, 5 of them with resident priests; 40 schools for boys and 29 schools for girls; 12 Brothers of the Christian Schools; 35 Sisters of Canossa; 22 Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres; and 54 native Sisters.

and the three continental districts of San-on (), (), and Haï-fung (). Churches with resident priests were the cathedral ( Glenealy), St. Joseph's commons] (Garden Road, Hong Kong, Garden Road), Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church (Hong Kong), St. Francis (Wan Chai), Church of the Sacred Heart (West Point, Hong Kong, West Point), Church of St. Anthony (West Point). The Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris had a procurator, a sanitorium ( Béthanie in Pok Fu Lam) and a printing office (Nazareth) at Hong Kong; there was also a Dominican procurator.

More missionaries arrived from many orders throughout the 1920s and 1930s, building more churches, schools, and hospitals.

During World War II, the Japanese occupation stopped almost all activities. Missionaries evacuated, and were variously interned, released, and expelled. After the war, reconstruction began immediately.

Diocese

On 11 April 1946 Pope Pius XII established the episcopal hierarchy in China, raising all the apostolic vicariates to dioceses, Hong Kong among them. Since then, the Hong Kong Diocese is directly responsible to the pope. Enrico Valtorta became the first bishop of Hong Kong.

In 1949 refugees fleeing the Chinese communist regime began to pour into Hong Kong, including many Catholics and clergymen from all over China; diocesan activities were effectively restricted to the boundaries of the Colony. In 1952, the diocese opened seven new chapels for refugees.

In 1969 Bishop Francis Hsu became, after the resignation of Lorenzo Bianchi, the first ethnically Chinese bishop of Hong Kong.

On 29 May 1988 John Baptist Wu, the fifth bishop, was named a member of the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II. He was the first cardinal from the Hong Kong diocese.

On 18 August 1991, an Open Forum on "Elections 1991", jointly organised by the Council of Priests, the Justice and Peace Commission, the Central Council of Catholic Laity and the Catholic Institute for Religion and Society, was held in the nine constituencies of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories in order to encourage the faithful to take an active part in the direct elections to the Legislative Council on 15 September. Church organisations also made a similar appeal to the faithful and ordinary citizens through publications, questionnaires and advertisements in newspapers.

On 15 April 1993 the diocese was re-divided into nine deaneries. The Council of Priests was reorganised with all the deans included as ex officio members.

After the death of Cardinal Wu on 23 September 2002, his coadjutor Joseph Zen Ze-kiun became the 6th bishop of Hong Kong.

On 8 July 2004 the Legislative Council passed the . Under the amended ordinance, which would be effective on 1 January 2005, every aided school would be required before 2010 to form an incorporated management committee (IMC) whose members should include elected representatives of teachers, parents of students and alumni, as well as other independent persons, with a view to promoting a school-based management. It was the concern of the Church that, as a sponsoring body, she would no longer be empowered in the future to supervise the schools under her sponsorship, nor be able to achieve her goals and objectives in Catholic education. On 5 June 2005, Bishop Zen announced that, if the Legislative Council passed the donation to support schools to create incorporated management committees on 8 July 2005, he would appeal against the decision to the court. After the Government decided to give up some of its main objectives and the Diocese subsequently decided to support the motion.

On 22 February 2006. Pope Benedict XVI announced that Bishop Joseph Zen would be raised to the College of Cardinals. He was made a cardinal at a consistory held on 24 March.
Zen was an outspoken supporter of democracy and a critic of the People's Republic of China. His views on government policies were often at odds with those of Hong Kong's former Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, who is also a Catholic.

On 15 April 2009. Pope Benedict XVI appointed coadjutor Bishop John Tong Hon as the 7th Bishop of the Diocese of Hong Kong after the resignation of Joseph Cardinal Zen. Tong was named a member of the College of Cardinals on 19 February 2012. On 1 August 2017, Pope Francis accepted Tong's resignation, which allowed coadjutor Bishop Michael Yeung Ming Cheung to succeed him as the 8th Bishop of the Diocese of Hong Kong. Due to Yeung's unexpected death on 3 January 2019, the ''de facto'' practice after the handover of having a coadjutor bishop succeed an outgoing bishop could not be followed. His death was shortly followed by the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, which sharply divided the people of Hong Kong, including Catholics. These circumstances made it difficult to appoint a bishop that could pastorally navigate the social climate of the time, and it wasn't until May 2021 that Pope Francis was finally able to appoint Jesuit priest Stephen Chow as the 9th Bishop of Hong Kong.

Leadership

Ordinaries

Below is a list of individuals who have led the Diocese of Hong Kong and its antecedent jurisdictions since its founding.

Apostolic Prefects

*Theodore Joset (22 April 1841 – 5 August 1842)
*Antonio Feliciani, O.F.M. (11 December 1842 – 10 May 1847) as Prefect Apostolic ad interim
*Théodore Augustin Forcade (10 May 1847 – 12 September 1885) as Pro-Prefect Apostolic
*Antonio Feliciani (24 August 1850 – 20 Jun 1855) as Prefect Apostolic ad interim
*Aloysius Ambrosi (20 June 1855 – 10 March 1867) – formerly Luigi Ambrosi
*Timoleon Raimondi (17 November 1867 – 27 December 1868) as Pro-Prefect Apostolic
*Timoleon Raimondi (27 December 1868 – 4 October 1874)

Apostolic Vicars

*Timoleon Raimondi (4 October 1874 – 27 September 1894)
* Louis Piazzoli (11 January 1895 – 26 December 1904)
* Dominic Pozzoni (12 July 1905 – 20 February 1924)
*Giovanni M. Spada (20 February 1924 – 8 March 1926) as Vicar Capitular
* Enrico Valtorta (8 March 1926 – 31 October 1948)

Bishops

* Enrico Valtorta (31 October 1948 – 3 September 1951)
*Lorenzo Bianchi (3 September 1951 – 30 November 1968)
* Francis Hsu (29 May 1969 – 23 May 1973)
*Peter Lei (21 December 1973 – 23 July 1974)
*Cardinal John Baptist Wu (25 July 1975 – 23 September 2002)
*Cardinal Joseph Zen, S.D.B. (23 September 2002 – 15 April 2009)
*Cardinal John Tong Hon (15 April 2009 – 1 August 2017)
*Michael Yeung (1 August 2017 – 3 January 2019)
*Stephen Chow, S.J. (4 December 2021 - present)

Apostolic administrators

*Francis Hsu (30 November 1968 – 29 May 1969)
*Cardinal John Tong Hon (5 January 2019 – 4 December 2021)

Coadjutor bishops

Under the Code of Canon Law, the coadjutor bishop has the right of succession (''cum jure successionis'') upon the death, retirement or resignation of the diocesan bishop he is assisting. All coadjutor bishops eventually succeeded to become head of the Diocese of Hong Kong.

*Lorenzo Bianchi (21 April 1949 – 3 September 1951)
* Joseph Zen (13 September 1996 – 23 September 2002)
*John Tong Hon (30 January 2008 – 15 April 2009)
*Michael Yeung (13 November 2016 – 1 August 2017)

Auxiliary bishops

Unlike coadjutors, auxiliary bishops do not have the right of succession, per canon 975, §1 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Hsu, Lei, Tong, and Yeung went on to become Bishop of Hong Kong.

* Francis Hsu (1 July 1967 – 30 November 1968)
*Peter Lei (3 July 1971 – 8 September 1971)
*John Tong Hon (13 September 1996 – 30 January 2008)
*Michael Yeung (11 July 2014 – 13 November 2016)
* Stephen Lee (11 July 2014 – 23 January 2016)
* Joseph Ha, O.F.M. (11 July 2014 – Present)

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

* Savio Hon (1982–2010), appointed Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 2010

Education

See also

* Anglican Diocese of Hong Kong Island
* Christianity in Hong Kong
* Sino-Vatican relations

References

Citations

Sources

*

Further reading

*

External links

Official website of the dioceseUCAN Diocese Profile
from the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Diocese Of Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Christian organizations established in 1946
Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century