Diocese of Tianjin
Tienzinen(sis)
Suffragan diocese · Latin Church · Tianjin, China
Latin-rite diocese covering the municipality of Tianjin, China, erected in 1912 as the Apostolic Vicariate of Coastal Chi-Li from the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Chi-Li and elevated to diocese in 1946. A suffragan of the Archdiocese of Beijing, its seat is St. Joseph Cathedral (Laoxikai Church). Bishop Melchior Shi Hongzhen, ordinary since 2019, received civil recognition in August 2024.
The see
- Rank
- Suffragan diocese
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 11 April 1946
- Latin
- Tienzinen(sis)
- Annuario code
- 001003221
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 100,000
- Population
- 15,000,000
- Catholic share
- 0.7%
- Priests
- 62
- Catholics per priest
- 1,613
- Extent
- 12,560 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 8.0
of the people living within its bounds
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Bishop
- Melchior Shi Hongzhen
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
St. Joseph Cathedral (Laoxikai Church), Tianjin stands in Tianjin, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
The province of Beijing
A suffragan of Archdiocese of Beijing.
The sees of this province:
- Archdiocese of BeijingBeijing
- Diocese of AnguoAnguo
- Diocese of BaodingBaoding
- Diocese of ChengdeChengde
- Diocese of DamingDaming
- Diocese of JingxianJingxian
- Diocese of XianxianXianxian
- Diocese of XingtaiXingtai
- Diocese of YongnianYongnian
- Diocese of YongpingYongping
- Diocese of ZhangjiakouZhangjiakou
- Diocese of ZhaoxianZhaoxian
- Diocese of ZhengdingZhengding
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
A suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Beijing in China, the Diocese of Tianjin/Tíentsín (Latin: Tienzinen(sis); Chinese: 天津; pinyin: Tiānjīn) has as its cathedral episcopal see the Cathedral of St. Joseph (Laoxikai Church) in the city of Tianjin, which also contains the former cathedral, Our Lady of Victory Church (Wanghailou Church) (圣母得勝堂（望海樓天主堂)). Figures from 1950 recorded 50,000 registered Catholics in Tianjin, roughly 1.4% of a total population of 3,600,000.
How to reach it
- Chancery
- Catholic Mission, Laosikai, Tianjin, Hebei, China
This see keeps no website of its own, so its chancery is published here: withholding it would protect nothing and leave a reader with nowhere to go. Where a see publishes its own site, the register sends you there instead.
What is kept by invitation
The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.
The working record is not. The clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it, are kept for members, and a person reads every request.
Sources
This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].