Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong


The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong is a Latin Rite diocese of the Catholic Church. Though the bishop is subject to the Roman Pontiff, he is not the vicar of the latter: he governs it in his own name. 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. 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 includung 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 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 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. 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. 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, who died at Mission House, Glenealy, Hong Kong, on 27 September 1894. He was succeeded by Bishops Louis Piazzoli and Dominic Pozzoni 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.
Besides Hong Kong Island, the vicariate included Lantau Island, its adjacent islands and the three continental districts of San-on, Kwei-shing, and Haï-fung. Churches with resident priests were the cathedral, St. Joseph's, St. Francis, Church of the Sacred Heart, Church of St. Anthony. The Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris had a procurator, a sanitorium and a printing office 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 organized 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 Education Bill. Under the New Ordinance, which would be effective on 1 January 2005, every aided school would be required before 2010 to form an incorporated management committee 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 staunch 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 appoints Bishop John Tong Hon as the 7th Bishop of the Diocese of Hong Kong after the resignation of Cardinal Joseph Zen. Bishop John Tong was named a member of the College of Cardinals on 19 February 2012. On 1 August 2017. Pope Francis accept the resignation of Cardinal John Tong. Coadjutor Bishop Michael Yeung Ming Cheung was appointed as the 8th Bishop of the Diocese of Hong Kong, until his death in 3 January 2019. After few days of Bishop Michael Yeung's death. Pope Francis appoints Cardinal John Tong as the Apostolic Administrator of Hong Kong Diocese.

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

Under the Code of Canon Law, the coadjutor bishop has the right of succession 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.
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.