Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Xichang

Nimiüenen(sis)

Latin-rite diocese (historically Ningyuan) in western Sichuan province, China, erected in 1910 as the Apostolic Vicariate of Kienchang from the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Szechwan and elevated to diocese in 1946. A suffragan of the Archdiocese of Chongqing, its seat is the Cathedral of the Angels in Xichang; Bishop John Lei Jiapei has led the diocese since 2016.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
11 April 1946
Latin
Nimiüenen(sis)
Annuario code
001000181

The see in figures

Catholics
11,143
Population
2,000,000
Catholic share
0.6%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
35
Catholics per priest
318
Extent
120,000 km²
Catholics per km²
0.1

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
John Lei Jiapei

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

Cathedral of the Angels, Xichang stands in Xichang, 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 Chongqing

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Chongqing.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

The city of Xichang, once known as Ningyuan or Kienchang, is the seat of the Diocese of Ningyuan (Latin: Dioecesis Nimiuenensis; Chinese: 天主教甯遠教區), a Latin Catholic diocese also called the Diocese of Xichang or Sichang, within the ecclesiastical province of Chongqing in western China. It began on August 12, 1910 as the Apostolic Vicariate of Kienchang for the Mission of Sichuan (Szechwan), in that province's Nosuland.

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 chancery's address, telephone and email, 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.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

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].