This is Monsignor Joseph Yang Yongqiang, 54, who was already bishop in Zhoucun, in Shandong, and is one of the two bishops who attended the Synod last October. He is going to occupy a historically important seat for the Church in China, where the last bishop was the result of the 2000 split. In the same province of Zheijang, where the authorities do not recognize and persecute Bishop Shao Zumin.
Vatican City () – There is a new transfer of a bishop from one episcopal see to another in China. But this time it is a transfer agreed with Rome, under the terms of the Interim Agreement with Beijing on the appointment of bishops. And its protagonist is precisely one of the two Chinese bishops who participated in the first session of the Synodal Assembly in the Vatican last October.
The press office of the Holy See announced today that Monsignor Joseph Yang Yongqiang, a 54-year-old prelate originally from Shandong, has been appointed bishop of Hangzhou, in the Chinese province of Zheijang, transferring him from the see of Zhoucun, which is located in his native province. A priest since 1995, Bishop Yang Yongqiang had been ordained coadjutor bishop in Zhoucun in 2010 with the consent of Rome and had succeeded Bishop Joseph Ma Xuesheng upon his death in 2013.
It is striking that the news of the appointment specifies that it took place on June 12 and was announced today, just when the official invitation to enter the diocese is circulating in China, which has already been set for Thursday, June 27. and that refers exclusively to the instructions of the “higher authorities” for the transfer. Another significant fact is that the Vatican appointment defines Hangzhou as a “diocese” and not as an “archdiocese”, adjusting to the “official” ecclesiastical geography imposed by Beijing, which does not distinguish metropolises with a different rank from other local Churches. Furthermore, no successor is named for the diocese of Zhoucun, leaving the overall number of Chinese bishops unchanged, even though a third of the dioceses – six years after the signing of the Agreement – remain vacant.
As with the transfer of Bishop Joseph Shen Bin to Shanghai – which due to its unilateral nature in April 2023 triggered a crisis in relations between Rome and Beijing, which was then healed three months later with the appointment desired by Pope Francis-, the design to cover a “strategic” headquarters for the Chinese Catholic community seems obvious. Zheijang is, in fact, one of the Chinese provinces where the Christian presence is most vivid: within its borders (although 300 kilometers south of the capital, Hangzhou) is the city of Wenzhou, nicknamed “the Chinese Jerusalem.”
Bishop of Hangzhou was Monsignor Mateo Cao Xiangde, a prelate illicitly consecrated during the 2000 confrontation with the Holy See. Before him, two other “patriotic” bishops had sat in this chair: Monsignor Matthias Wu Guo-huan in 1960 and Monsignor John Zhu Fengqing in 1988. Monsignor Cao Xiangde had asked in 2004 to return to communion with Rome, a request that the The Vatican granted it in 2008, but without granting it jurisdiction. He passed away at the age of 93 in July 2021. With the appointment announced today, therefore, a long wound is closed for a local church of great historical importance for Chinese Catholicism.
Hangzhou’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is in fact one of the oldest churches in China: it was built in 1661 by the great Jesuit missionary Martino Martini, who died and is buried here. But Hangzhou is also remembered for the figures of Li Zhizao and Yang Tingyun, two great Chinese personalities who converted to Christianity after meeting Matteo Ricci, who together with Xu Guangqi, the first disciple in Shanghai, are remembered as “the three pillars of Chinese Catholicism.” “.
If this is the historical importance of the Hangzhou headquarters, we must not forget that the province of Zheijang is one of those in which the repression against Christian communities has been harshly felt in recent years. Not more than a decade ago, it was the epicenter of the bitter confrontation over crosses demolished by the authorities officially for “landscape reasons”. But even in more recent times, it is worth remembering that the diocese of Yongjia/Wenzhou – “vacant” according to Beijing’s official count – is the episcopal see of the “clandestine” bishop. Pedro Shao Zhumin, ordained coadjutor with a mandate from the Holy See in 2011 and repeatedly persecuted for his refusal to join the Patriotic Association. News of Bishop Shao Zumin was lost after a new arrest last January, after the prelate challenged the authorities’ decision to entrust the government of the diocese to a priest attached to the Patriotic Association, Father Ma Xianshi.
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