(Agencies): Father Peter Wu Yishun was ordained as bishop of the Apostolic Prefecture of Shaowu (Minbei), China, on January 31, with the approval of the Vatican, making it the third episcopal consecration in country in seven days.
Bishop Wu was appointed by Pope Francis on 16 December 2023, Vatican News reported. The appointment was announced on January 31 by the Holy See Press Office following his episcopal ordination, as set out in the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and China.
More than 400 people attended the ordination ceremony at Chengguan Catholic Church in Jianyang, Nanping City, Fujian province according to a report on the website of the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China, UCAN reported.
Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing, the president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, officiated the ceremony along with three other bishops. Participants included 80 priests and 360 nuns and laypeople, the report said.
The ordination of 60-year-old Bishop Wu came two days after that of Bishop Anthony Sun Venjun on January 29 [Sunday Examiner, February 4]. Previously, on January 25, Bishop Thaddeus Wang Yuesheng was ordained.
Bishop Wu was born on 7 December 1964, in Ningde City, Fujian Province. From September 1985 to July 1992, he studied theology and philosophy at Sheshan Seminary in Shanghai. He was ordained a priest in August 1992.
Vatican News reported that he was later sent to Minbei where he served as a pastor, holding down various roles, including parish priest of Nanping and responsible for the apostolic prefectures of Shaowu and Jian’ou.
Nine bishops have been ordained with the approval of the Vatican and the state since the 2018 Sino-Vatican agreement on the appointment of bishops. The Vatican has also recognised several bishops ordained earlier without a papal mandate.
