Archdiocese of Nanjing


The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nanjing/'Nanking' is a Roman Catholic diocese of the Catholic Church in China.

History

Image:Mgr Ignace Cotolendi.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Mgr Ignace Cotolendi was the first appointed bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nanjing.
It was erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Nanjing in 1659 by Pope Alexander VII, and promoted to a diocese by Pope Alexander VIII on April 10, 1690. On 15 October 1696, its territory was reduced by Pope Innocent XII to two provinces: Jiangnan and Ho-nan. The diocese was demoted to the Apostolic Vicariate of Kiangnan on January 21, 1856 by Pope Pius IX, and its name was later changed to the Apostolic Vicariate of Kiangsu on August 8, 1921 and to the Vicariate Apostolic of Nanjing on May 1, 1922. Pope Pius XII elevated it on April 11, 1946 to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese, with the suffragan sees of Haimen, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Xuzhou.
The archdiocese's motherchurch and thus seat of its archbishop is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception also known as the Shigu Road church. There were a number of years without a bishop after the death of Paul Cardinal Yü Pin on August 16, 1978, because of the irregular relations between the Communist government and the Holy See. On January 6, 2000, Francis Savio Lu Xinping was ordained the new bishop of Nanjing along with four others in an illicit ceremony in Beijing's South Cathedral. Since then he has been reconciled to the Holy See.

List of Ordinaries of Nanjing

Vicar Apostolic of Nanjing

Bishop of Nanjing

Vicar Apostolic of Kiangnan

Vicar Apostolic of Kiangsu

  • Próspero París, S.J.

Vicar Apostolic of Nanjing

Archdiocese of Nanjing