TAINAN (SE): Pope Francis appointed Franciscan Father John Baptist Huang Min-Cheng bishop of the Diocese of Tainan, Taiwan. The bishop-designate has been until now, director of the Centre for Franciscan Spirituality in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and parish priest of the Daxi Friary, in the Diocese of Hsinchu.
Father Huang was born on 23 March 1955 in Madou, the Diocese of Tainan. After attending the Franciscan minor seminary in the Neihu district, he studied philosophy and theology in Taipei. He entered the Order of Friars Minor, and was ordained a priest on 29 March 1984 in Tainan.
He then served in the Queen of Angels parish in Xinying, Tainan from 1984 to 1992, and was provincial of the Chinese province of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau from 1992 to 1998. He was then awarded a Master’s degree in spirituality from the Pontifical Antonianum University in Rome, where he studied from 1998 to 2002.
The bishop-designate was chairperson of the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue and Christian Unity [2002-2012]; parish priest of Baihe, Madou; director of the Franciscan Hsientsaopo Rottgen House Centre for Franciscan Spirituality; spiritual director of the Biblical Apostolate Association; counsellor general of the Secular Order of Franciscans; vicar general of the diocese of Tainan [2013-2019]; and since 2019, director of the Centre of Franciscan Spirituality in Hsinchu.
