Milan (AsiaNews) – A new episcopal ordination took place in China, once more in a diocese of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region[b] (IMAR), in the north of the country.
A week after the ordination of the new bishop of Chilong on 22 July, the rite of consecration of Bishop Francis Xavier Duan Yongkun, 45, as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Bameng was held today in the Catholic church of Shanba, Bayannur.
The rite, according to a press release from the Vatican Press Office, took place in accordance with the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China regarding the appointment of Bishops, after Pope Leo XIV approved the appointment on 15 June, the same day as that of Mgr Joseph Chang Yanfeng.
Bameng is not a vacant diocese. The new bishop will serve as coadjutor (and therefore with right of succession) alongside the current pastor, Mgr Matthias Du Jiang, who is only 63 years old. After he was secretly ordained in 2004, he was also recognised as an official bishop by the authorities in 2010.
Archbishop Paul Meng Qinglu of Hohhot, who is also vice president of the local Patriotic Association, led today's ceremony. The consecrating bishops included the local prelate, Bishop of Du Jiang, and Bishop Yang Xiaoting of Yulin, vice president of the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China (the collegial body not officially recognised by the Holy See). Also present were Bishop Yao Shun of Ulanqab and Bishop Chang Yanfeng of Chifeng (the prelate ordained last week).
According to the official account, 350 people attended the consecration ceremony, including priests, nuns, and representatives of the faithful.
A detail regarding today's nomination also reveals the extremely sensitive ethnic context in which these appointments have taken place in Inner Mongolia.
As was the case last week with the bishop of Chifeng, the profiles released by the Vatican Press Office and the Patriotic Association differ somewhat over the birth place of the coadjutor bishop of Bameng.
According to the Holy See, Bishop Duan Yongkun was born on 6 December 1980, "in Hangjin Houqi, Inner Mongolia”. In their statement, Chinese authorities note that he is “originally from Xian County, Hebei,” even though he was born in Inner Mongolia.
From 2008 to 2013, he studied at Peking University and Beijing Foreign Studies University. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Bameng on 1 January 2011. From 2013 to 2016, he pursued his studies at Fujen Catholic University in Taiwan.
Upon returning home, he served as director of the local training centre from 2016 to 2020, and was subsequently appointed vicar general of the Diocese of Bameng and parish priest of the diocesan cathedral.
The Diocese of Bameng, which includes the prefectures of Bayannur and Wuhai, was created from the former Diocese of Ningxia at the initiative of the "official" Church in 1989.
Its first bishop, Mgr Francis Xavier Guo Zhengji, was consecrated without the pope's mandate in 1990. Upon his death in 2004, Mgr Matthias Du Jiang, was secretly ordained bishop. Then in his 40s, he was in communion with Rome.
The Vatican thus found itself with a bishop of a diocese that on paper did not exist according to its jurisdiction, and in doing so, it essentially recognised the diocese of Bameng.
In 2010, recognition also came from Chinese authorities, but not without tensions. To sanction the ordination, they imposed an installation ceremony concelebrated by Bishop Ma Yinglin of Kunming, then a leader of the Patriotic Association and at the time still among those excommunicated for illicit ordinations, which were later revoked in 2018.
This caused dismay among the priests and faithful of the local underground communities.
Now it appears that Mgr Du Jiang asked, for health reasons, to have his closest aide appointed as coadjutor bishop, in a very active diocese that has around 40,000 members with some 30 priests and 20 nuns carrying out their ministry.
