Paolo Liu Honggang was ordained this Monday, August 31, as the new bishop of Datong, in the province of Shanxi, China, after Pope Leo XIV approved his candidacy and appointed him to this diocese on August 10, within the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.
The Holy See confirmed the episcopal ordination this Monday and clarified that the appointment took place after the Pontiff approved Liu’s candidacy according to the mechanism established between Rome and Beijing for the designation of bishops.
A new appointment under the agreement with Beijing
Liu’s ordination adds to the episcopal appointments made during the pontificate of Leo XIV within the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and China.
The pact was initially signed in 2018 and last renewed in 2024 for a period of four years. Its content remains confidential and regulates one of the most delicate issues in relations between Rome and Beijing: the procedure for the appointment of Chinese Catholic bishops.
This summer, Leo XIV already approved within this mechanism the candidacies of Giuseppe Chang Yanfeng, later ordained bishop of Chifeng, and Francisco Javier Duan Yongkun, appointed coadjutor bishop of Bameng, both jurisdictions located in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
More than twenty years leading the diocese
Paolo Liu Honggang was born on November 2, 1970, in the town of Wufuying, near the city of Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province.
Between 1988 and 1992 he studied at the Fenyang seminary and later continued his formation, from 1992 to 1996, at the National Seminary of Beijing, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Theology.
He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Datong on November 24, 1996. Between December of that year and 1999 he served as parish priest of Zhangguantun. He later served as parish priest of Xubao from 2000 to 2003 and then as head of the parish of Xihehe until 2005.
Since March 15, 2005, Liu has served as diocesan administrator of Datong, meaning he had been leading the administration of the diocese for more than twenty years before receiving his episcopal ordination.