John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung ( zh, t=胡振中, cy=Wu Cheng-chung; 26 March 1925 – 23 September 2002) was the fifth Roman Catholic bishop of Hong Kong and the first

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

from that diocese. He was a member of the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments () is the dicastery (from , from δικαστής, 'judge, juror') of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Church as distin ...

Biography

A Hakka, Wu was born in the village of Ho Hau, Wu-hua (Province of

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

Diocese of Kai-ying In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

). Baptized in the village's parish church, he received his primary education there. He joined the diocesan minor seminary of Ka-ying for his secondary education in 1940 and was ordained in 1952. He was appointed the fifth Bishop of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

as successor to Bishop Peter Lei Wang-kei who had died on 23 July 1974. He arrived in Hong Kong and on 25 July was consecrated and installed as Bishop of the Hong Kong in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1975. After due preparation, he initiated a Diocesan Renewal Movement for priests, laity and religious. On 25 March 1985, he led a five-member delegation on a seven-day visit to Beijing and Shanghai, at the invitation of the National Bureau of Religious Affairs under the State Council of China. He was the first bishop of Hong Kong to visit the

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

. Later on 21 January 1986, he led a seven-member delegation on a ten-day visit to

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

and the eastern part of his home Province,

, at the invitation of the Bureau of Religious Affairs of that Province. This visit marked the first reunion with his 85-year-old mother, after a separation of 40 years. He was named a member of the Sacred

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

on 29 May 1988. After the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

, on 11 July 1989, he wrote a letter to all the bishops in the world, requesting them to appeal for justice, order and democracy in China. On 1 September 1991, Wu issued a pastoral letter that exhorting the faithful to give full support to the direct elections to the Legislative Council, the first time in the history of Hong Kong, on 15 September. In 1999, he convoked the "Diocesan Synod" to meet the pastoral needs of the Third Millennium. He died of cancer and diabetes on 23 September 2002 at Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong, aged 77. He was buried in St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery, Happy Valley. On September 2022, twenty years after his death, Wu's remains were exhumed and re-interred in the Crypt of The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

References

External links

*
GCatholic.org on the Bishops of Hong Kong

Notice of death of Cardinal Wu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, John Baptist Roman Catholic bishops of Hong Kong 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Hong Kong 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Hong Kong Chinese cardinals 1925 births 2002 deaths Hong Kong people of Hakka descent People from Wuhua Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Deaths from cancer in Hong Kong Diabetes-related deaths Chinese emigrants to British Hong Kong

Biography

See also

References

External links