His Eminence

John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung
Cardinal,
Bishop of Hong Kong
DioceseHong Kong
Appointed5 April 1975
Installed25 July 1975
Term ended23 September 2002
PredecessorPeter Lei
SuccessorJoseph Zen
Other post(s)Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria del Monte Carmelo a Mostacciano (1988–2002)
Orders
Ordination6 July 1952
Consecration25 July 1975
by Agnelo Rossi
Created cardinal29 June 1988
by Pope John Paul II
Personal details
Born26 May 1925
Wuhua, Meizhou, Guangdong, China
Died23 September 2002(2002-09-23) (aged 77)
Queen Mary Hospital, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong
BuriedSt. Michael's Cemetery, Happy Valley, Hong Kong (until 2022)[1]
Chapel of St. Anthony, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Hong Kong (from 2022)
NationalityChinese
Coat of armsJohn Baptist Wu Cheng-chung's coat of arms
Ordination history of
John Baptist Wu
History
Priestly ordination
Date6 July 1952
PlaceCathedral of the Immaculate Conception, British Hong Kong
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecratorAgnelo Rossi (Pref. Sacr. Cong. Prop. Fide)
Co-consecratorsPetrus Tou Pao-zin (Hsinchu)
Frederick Anthony Donaghy (Wuzhou)
Date25 July 1975
PlaceCathedral of the Immaculate Conception, British Hong Kong
Cardinalate
Elevated byPope John Paul II
Date28 June 1988
Episcopal succession
Bishops consecrated by John Baptist Wu as principal consecrator
Arquimínio Rodrigues da Costa25 March 1976
Joseph Zen9 December 1996
John Tong Hon9 December 1996
Styles of
John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung
Reference styleHis Eminence
Spoken styleYour Eminence
Informal styleCardinal
SeeHong Kong
John Baptist Wu
Traditional Chinese胡振中
Simplified Chinese胡振中

John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung (Chinese: 胡振中; Cantonese Yale: Wu Cheng-chung; 26 March 1925 – 23 September 2002) was the fifth Roman Catholic bishop of Hong Kong and the first cardinal from that diocese. He was a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Biography

A Hakka, Wu was born in the village of Ho Hau, Wu-hua (Province of Guangdong, Diocese of Kai-ying). 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.[2]

He was appointed the fifth Bishop of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese by Pope Paul VI 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. Later on 21 January 1986, he led a seven-member delegation on a ten-day visit to Guangzhou and the eastern part of his home Province, Guangdong, 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 by Pope John Paul II on 29 May 1988.

After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, 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.[3]

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.[2] 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.

In 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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Su, Xinqi (11 January 2019). "Top officials join Hong Kong Catholics in packed cathedral for Bishop Michael Yeung's funeral mass". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  2. 1 2 Leung, Beatrice; Chan, Shunning (2003). Changing Church and State Relations in Hong Kong, 1950-2000. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
  3. ↑ Wu, John (October 1989). "March into the Bright Decade: Pastoral Exhortation of Cardinal John B. Wu on the Pastoral Commitment of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong". Catholic Information Service.
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