Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau

Diocese of Macau Dioecesis Macaonensis 天主教澳門教區
Location
Country	China
Territory	Macau
Statistics
Area	30 km2 (12 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2013) 582,000 29,611 (5.1%)
Information
Rite	Latin Rite
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Stephen Lee Bun-sang
Vicar General	Father Pedro Chung
Website
diomac.mo

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau (Portuguese: Diocese de Macau; Chinese: 天主教澳門教區) is an exempt (i.e. an immediate subject of the Holy See and not part of any ecclesiastical province) Latin Rite diocese of the Catholic Church. Its territory encompasses Macau, a special administrative region of China.

Its cathedral is the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady.

Its patron saints are Francis Xavier and Catherine of Siena, and its motto is Scientia et Virtus (Knowledge and Virtue).

Stephen Lee Bun-sang is the current bishop and the third Chinese bishop.

History

It was established on January 23, 1576 by the edict of Pope Gregory XIII, on vast territory split off from Roman Catholic Diocese of Malacca. It originally covered China, Japan, Vietnam and the Malay archipelago, with the exception of the Philippines. From its founding, the diocese was a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese (soon Patriarchate) of Goa, in Portuguese India.

It gradually lost most of its territory, in and around continental China:

• on February 19, 1588 to establish the Diocese of Funai (Japan)
• on September 9, 1659 to establish the Apostolic Vicariate of Tonkin, the Apostolic Vicariate of Cochinchina (both in Vietnam), and Apostolic Vicariate of Nanjing
• on April 22, 1841 to establish the then-Apostolic Prefecture of Hong Kong
• on May 10, 1848 to establish the then-Apostolic Vicariate of Guangdong-Guangxi
• on April 9, 1940 to establish the Diocese of Díli (on Timor)

It was made exempt in 1975, following Portugal's loss of sovereignty over Goa, its former Metropolitan.

It now only administers Macau alone, the last regions outside Macau under its administration were the parishes of Saint Joseph (Singapore) and Saint Peter (Malacca), which separated from the Diocese of Macau in 1981.

Episcopal ordinaries

Parishes

The Diocese is divided in:

• six parishes (five in Macau Peninsula and one on Taipa island):
  • Cathedral Parish
  • St. Lazarus
  • St. Anthony
  • St. Lawrence
  • Our Lady of Fátima
  • Church of Our Lady of Carmel, Taipa
• two quasi-parishes, both on Macau Peninsula:
  • St. Francis Xavier, Mong Há
  • St. Joseph, Iao Hon
• one mission (on Coloane island):
  • St. Francis Xavier, Coloane

Schools

Escola do Santíssimo Rosário

The following schools are directly operated by the diocese:

Preschool through secondary school

• Colégio Diocesano de São José - Sé (not in Macau's tuition-free school network)^[1]
• Colégio Diocesano de São José 5 - Nossa Senhora de Fátima (not in Macau's tuition-free school network)^[2]
• Escola de São Paulo - Nossa Senhora de Fátima^[3]

Preschool through junior high school

• Escola do Santíssimo Rosário - Santo António^[4] (Closing in 2017^[5])

Preschool and primary school

• Escola Dom João Paulino - Taipa^[6]
• Escola Madalena de Canossa - Nossa Senhora de Fátima^[7]
• Escola de Santa Teresa do Menino Jesus - Nossa Senhora de Fátima^[8]

There are other Catholic schools in Macau which are operated by Catholic orders.

See also

• List of bishops of Macau
• list of Macao-related topics

References

External links

• Diocese de Macau (in Chinese)
• GCatholic.org with incumbent biography links
•  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Macao". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• UCAN Diocese profile

Coordinates: 22°11′37″N 113°32′31″E / 22.1936°N 113.5420°E / 22.1936; 113.5420