Roman Catholicism in Hong Kong

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Catholic Church in Hong Kong (Chinese: 天主教香港教区), established in 1841, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Curia in Rome. All Catholics in Hong Kong are under the Diocese of Hong Kong - officially under the Ecclesiastical Province of Guangzhou. The five other dioceses under this Ecclesiastical Province are Beihai, Jiangmen, Jiaying, Shantou and Shaozhou.

There are approximately 350,000 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 317 Catholic schools and 71 various social service centres.

The Bishop 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-PRC' views. 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 Auxiliary Bishop of Hong Kong is John Tong Hon.

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

For further information, see the separate entry:

Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong