Hong Kong was without a bishop for almost two years, but now the Pope has appointed 61-year-old Jesuit Fr. Stephen Chow to lead the diocese. <\/p>\n
Until now Fr. Chow served as Provincial of the Society of Jesus in China. <\/p>\n
This is an important appointment, since Beijing will interpret it as being symbolic of the tone Pope Francis is setting with China. <\/p>\n
FR. STEPHEN CHOW, S.J.<\/strong> Fr. Chow's first mission will be to build unity among Hong Kong's Catholics. They are currently divided between those calling for the Church to take a tougher line with Beijing in defending religious freedom, and others who would prefer to keep a lower profile. <\/p>\n Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, and Jimmy Lai, a businessman who has become one of Beijing's most outspoken critics, are both Catholics. <\/p>\n Defending religious freedom is a highly sensitive issue. <\/p>\n FR STEPHEN CHOW, S.J.<\/strong> 'I think religious freedom is a basic right. When I speak to the government, I hope to encourage them not to forget the importance of religious freedom.' <\/em><\/p>\n Fr. Stephen Chow will be ordained a bishop on Dec. 4, to give the Jesuits time to name a new Provincial to succeed him. Meanwhile, Cardinal John Tong will continue to govern the diocese. <\/p>\n CARD. JOHN TONG<\/strong> Fr. Chow faces a difficult mission in a sensitive part of the world where political and religious challenges are the order of the day. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n JMB<\/p>\n RR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May 20, 2021. Jesuit Fr. Stephen Show symbolizes the tone Pope Francis wants to give the Vatican's relations with Beijing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/He26AKev5OY","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bhongkongeng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bhongkongint.mp4","type":"rrp","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45276"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBishop-elect of Hong Kong
\n\u201cHong Kong is a place I really love. My birthplace and the place where I've grown up.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\nBishop-elect of Hong Kong
\n'Unity in plurality. We have to respect plurality, which is the reality. And we all have to learn to respect plurality.'<\/em><\/p>\n
\nApostolic Administrator of Hong Kong
\n'Under his rule, may our diocese serve the Church and society with wisdom and love.' <\/em><\/p>\n