Pope Francis appointed Monsignor Michael Yeung Ming-cheung, 72, new Bishop of Hong Kong, announced the Holy See Press Office on Aug. 1, 2017, specifying: Continental China. Up to now he was Coadjutor of that diocese. He was a kingpin in the local Caritas.
The Pope accepted the renunciation of Cardinal John Tong Hon, 78, to the pastoral government of the diocese of Hong Kong.
According to “Eglises d’Asie” (EDA) of the Foreign Missions Agency of Paris (MEP), quite a number of challenges await the new bishop, in this atypical situation of the former British city integrated in the People’s Republic of China.
At the head of the diocese since 2009, Cardinal John Tong Hon tended his resignation for reasons of age in 2014. The Holy Father kept him on in his functions for three more years, which came to an end on the occasion of the Bishop’s birthday on July 31, 2017, reported EDA, indicating that he will be Pope Francis’ special envoy to Japan, on the occasion of the 30th annual Inter-Religious Meeting of Prayer for Peace in the World on August 4.
EDA recalled his successor’s course. “Monsignor Yeung was ordained Auxiliary Bishop on August 30, 2014, at the time of the first Episcopal Ordinations, held after the handover in 1997 to China of the former British colony. He was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of the diocese of Hong Kong on November 13, 2016. With the end of Cardinal Tong’s mandate, Monsignor Yeung becomes automatically the new titular bishop of the diocese.”
The new Bishop of Hong Kong will be installed on August 5, during a Mass that will be celebrated in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Eglises d’Asie see in him a “fine connoisseur of the diocese.” “Born in Shanghai in 1946, Monsignor Yeung grew up in Hong Kong and was ordained priest of that diocese in 1978, after professional experience in the import-export business. As a young priest, he exercised his ministry in parishes accompanying the urban growth in Hong Kong’s New Territories.
He exercised the essential of his ministry in the framework of the local Caritas, of which he became General Director in 2003. It was with this title that he was appointed, the same year, a member of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum (which supervises the Holy See’ charitable works). Appointed Vicar General in 2009, he had perfect knowledge of the diocese. He who had the reputation of being a great administrator should be able to carry out the reforms of which the diocese was in need, despite his already advanced age (72).
As coadjutor bishop, last June he shared his wish to dedicate his next years of Episcopate to young people, to families and to the elderly of his diocese as well as to deepen his faith. “
EDA stressed that “his predecessor, Cardinal Tong, had the religious freedom of the special administrative region at the heart of his ministry, as stated in a letter of March 28, 2017 addressed to Carrie Lam, who took up her functions as Chief Executive of Hong Kong last July 1.”
The new bishop was “born on the continent,” and the first challenge will be to “manage with diplomacy the relations with Beijing, although he is not considered an expert in this area,” reported EDA.
The MEP’s agency recalled that Monsignor Yeung was formed in the United States, where he studied communication at the beginning of the 1980s and he was responsible for the diocese’s information and communication, having “a reputation of being a master at public speaking.”
