The Diocese of Kaohsiung (Lat: ''Dioecesis Kaohsiungensis'') is a

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. The diocese has the distinction of being the first Catholic ecclesiastical territory erected on the island of Taiwan. Created as the Apostolic Prefecture of the Island of Formosa in 1913, the name was changed to the Apostolic Prefecture of

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

in 1949. In 1961, the Prefecture was elevated to a full diocese, and became a suffragan to the

Archdiocese of Taipei The Archdiocese of Taipei () is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Taiwan. Pope Pius XII erected it as the Apostolic Prefecture of Taipei on 30 December 1949. On 7 August 1952, it was elevated to an archdiocese, with the suf ...

. The current bishop is

Peter Liu Cheng-chung Peter Liu Cheng-chung is a Roman Catholic prelate of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Peter Liu has been chairman of Fu Jen Catholic University since 2009. Early life Liu was born on 12 April 1951 in Chiayi, Taiwan. Priesth ...

, appointed in January 2006. In November 2009, he was given the "

ad personam In an argument, ''ad personam,'' short for ''argumentum ad personam'', is a tactic aimed at discrediting one's opponent by attacking his personality, unrelated to the substance of the debate. Origin In his treatise '' The Art of Being Always R ...

" (personal) title of archbishop by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

Ordinaries

* Clemente Fernández, O.P. † (1913 Appointed – 1921 Died) * Thomas de la Hoz, O.P. † (27 Jul 1921 Appointed – 1935 Died) *

Joseph Asajiro Satowaki Joseph Asajirô Satowaki (里脇浅次郎 ''Satowaki Asajirō''; February 1, 1904 – August 8, 1996) was a Japanese prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Nagasaki from 1968 to 1990, and was elevated to the cardinalat ...

, † (1941 Appointed – 1946) * Joseph Arregui y Yparaguirre, O.P. † (5 Mar 1948 Appointed – 1961 Died) * Joseph Cheng Tien-Siang, O.P. † (21 Mar 1961 Appointed – 19 Aug 1990 Died) *

Paul Shan Kuo-hsi Paul Shan Kuo-hsi, S.J. (; 3 December 1924 – 22 August 2012) was a cardinal in the Catholic Church. He was at times the bishop of Hualien and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and the chairman of Fu Jen Catholic University. Biography Kuo-hsi was born in ...

, S.J. † (4 Mar 1991 Appointed – 5 Jan 2006 Retired) *

(5 Jan 2006 Succeeded – present)

Ordinaries

See also