Catholic Church in Hong Kong

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Grotto at Catholic Centre in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong

The Catholic Church in Hong Kong (Chinese: 天主教香港教區), established in 1841, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. All Catholics in Hong Kong are under the Diocese of Hong Kong, which is a de jure suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Guangzhou. However, in practice it is an immediate subject of the Holy See.

There are approximately 395,000[1] Catholics in Hong Kong – around 5% of the total population – most being Latin Rite Catholics. The majority of the Hong Kong Catholics are Chinese. However, there are various national groups of Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Indian, French and German active Catholics. Sunday religious services are offered in 99 places, and there are 249[2] Catholic schools and 199[3] various social service centres.

The Bishop emeritus of Hong Kong is Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, SDB (Chinese: 陳日君). He is regarded by some to be politically 'controversial' due to his 'anti-Beijing' views and his strong ties with the pro-democracy camp. However, Zen has constantly personally maintained that he is very patriotic to his country, and that he has been upset that he has been denied the right to return to China.

The Bishop of Hong Kong is Stephen Chow, SJ (Chinese: 周守仁), who was appointed by Pope Francis in 2021.[4] He took over from Cardinal John Tong Hon, who served as Apostolic Administrator following the death of Michael Yeung Ming-cheung in 2019.

The cathedral of the Diocese of Hong Kong is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, located on Caine Road, Mid Levels.

Political

Traditionally, Catholics in Hong Kong tend to support the pro-democracy camp, despite this there are also many Catholics that support the pro-Beijing camp. Notably, former Chief Executive of Hong Kong Donald Tsang and Carrie Lam and current Chief Executive of Hong Kong John Lee are Catholics.

In July 2022, the Vatican's unofficial representative in Hong Kong, monsignor Javier Herrera-Corona, warned that religious freedoms were over in Hong Kong due to pressure from mainland Chinese authorities, with one person summarizing the monsignor's message as "Hong Kong is not the great Catholic beachhead it was."[5][6]

In May 2023, the United States government released the 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom, which stated religious leaders reported that they were self-censoring politically sensitive content, and not appointing clergy members who were critical of the Hong Kong government.[7]

In May 2023, the diocese announced that it would not hold any commemorations for the Tiananmen Square massacre, an annual tradition in Hong Kong since 1989 that was last celebrated in 2021.[8]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Hong Kong Catholic Church Directory 2022, p.516
  2. ^ Hong Kong Catholic Church Directory 2017, p.517
  3. ^ Hong Kong Catholic Church Directory 2017, p.517
  4. ^ "Pope appoints Jesuit as new Bishop of Hong Kong – Vatican News". 17 May 2021.
  5. ^ Standard, The. "Vatican envoy in Hong Kong warns Catholic missions to prepare for China crackdown". The Standard. Retrieved 2022-07-06.
  6. ^ Torode, Greg (2022-07-05). "Vatican envoy in Hong Kong warns Catholic missions to prepare for China crackdown". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-07-06.
  7. ^ Cheng, Mandy (2023-05-17). "US report raises concerns over Hong Kong religious freedom, city gov't rejects 'smears'". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  8. ^ "Fate of the church in China 'inseparable' from that of the country, says Hong Kong bishop, as Tiananmen mass axed". Hong Kong Free Press. 2023-05-26. Retrieved 2023-05-27.

References

Catholic Diocese in Hong Kong