Leo XIV creates a new diocese in China and appoints a bishop

This is Leo XIV's second Chinese episcopal appointment since his election, and the 14th since the agreement was signed.

The first diocese suppressed by the Holy See, that of Xiwanzi, had been without a bishop since the death of Bishop Andrew Hao Jinli in 2011. This member of the "underground Church," who had spent more than 20 years in prison and re-education camps, had never been recognized by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which is China's "official" Catholic community. The association is the government-approved body of the Catholic Church in China and is controlled by the Communist Party. It is not recognized by Rome.

In the diocese of Xuanhua, the situation is complex. There is still a bishop in place, Bishop Augustin Cui Tai. Benedict XVI appointed him coadjutor bishop to Bishop Thomas Zhao Ke-xun, a member of the underground Church, in 2013. When Bishop Zhao died in 2018, Bishop Cui took over. However, local police have kept him imprisoned since 2020. According to the Bitter Winter website, this is because he refused to join the Patriotic Association.

Bishop Cui is 75 years old, which is retirement age. The Catholic website Asia News claims that an internal note to the diocese announced that he was retiring for this reason. However, his name is not mentioned in the statement from the Holy See or in that of the Chinese Patriotic Association.

I.MEDIA asked the Holy See about Bishop Cui's current situation, but has not yet received an answer.

Most of the territories of the dioceses of Xiwanzi and Xuanhua, both founded in 1946 by Pius XI, were merged on July 8 into a single new diocese, named Zhangjiakou. A small portion was incorporated into the neighboring dioceses of Beijing and Jining.

Zhangjiakou, a prefecture-level city in Hebei with a population of over 4 million, was already home to the cathedral of the Diocese of Xiwanzi. The Holy See states that the new diocese has 85,000 faithful served by 89 priests.

The Holy See's statement explains that this new territorial delimitation is in line with that of the Chinese administration. It also conforms to the delimitation adopted by the Patriotic Association in 1980. As such, it responds to Leo XIV's desire to “promote the pastoral care of the Lord's flock and attend more effectively to its spiritual good.” 

Leo XIV “approved the candidacy” of the new bishop, Wang Zhengui, who was ordained on October 10 after being recognized by the Holy See under the 2018 agreement on episcopal appointments.

This agreement, the terms of which are still secret today, provides that the Pope has the final say on the consecration of new bishops on Chinese territory. It was renewed for four years on October 22, 2024.

According to the AsiaNews website, Wang Zhengui had long been based in Zhangjiakou as the priest responsible for the Catholic community by the Patriotic Association. In 2019, one year after the signing of the agreement on the appointment of bishops between Beijing and Rome, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, published a letter describing this diocese as “illegal,” recalling that only the Holy See could establish dioceses. In this letter, published in part by AsiaNews, he asked Father Wang to obey his bishop, Bishop Cui.

Born in 1962, Bishop Wang Zhengui was one of the first priests trained at the Hebei Provincial Seminary, an institution created in 1984 by the Patriotic Association. Ordained in 1990 for the Diocese of Xianxian, he then joined the Diocese of Xuanhua.

According to Asia News, Father Ma Yanen, who was head of the Xiwanzi diocese on behalf of the Patriotic Association, is expected to be appointed auxiliary bishop of the new diocese of Zhangjiakou in the near future.