Vatican appoints Stephen Chow as new bishop of Hong Kong

The 62-year-old is one of the youngest priests promoted to the job since the Vatican began appointing Chinese bishops in the city
Hong Kong Catholics have been without a permanent leader for more than two years and observers say Chow is a prudent choice

Catholic Church

Mimi Lau

Published: 6:26pm, 17 May 2021

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Corrected [2:33pm, 18 May, 2021]

[2:33pm, 18 May, 2021]
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Stephen Chow Sau-yan was the youngest priest to be promoted to full bishop in Hong Kong since the Vatican began appointing bishops in the city. The story has been amended to reflect that he is one of the youngest.

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The Vatican has named Stephen Chow Sau-yan as the bishop of Hong Kong, the Holy See said on Monday, an appointment made at a tumultuous time for the city as its political and religious freedoms are tested.

Hong Kong’s Catholics have been without a permanent leader for more than two years since the death of Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung in January 2019. The Vatican brought 82-year-old former bishop John Tong Hon out of retirement to serve as the apostolic administrator, a role he will remain in until Chow has been consecrated as bishop.

At 62, Chow is one of the youngest priests to be promoted to full bishop in Hong Kong since the Vatican began appointing Chinese bishops in the city nearly five decades ago. Observers called the appointment a prudent choice for the city’s polarised Catholic community since Chow “has not displayed any obvious political leanings”.

Reverend Joseph Ha Chi-shing, a pro-democracy advocate, remains the auxiliary bishop of the diocese, according to church sources.

An educational psychologist and theologian, Chow has headed the Society of Jesus, Chinese Province in Hong Kong since 2018 and is supervisor of its two Wah Yan College campuses, a Catholic secondary school for boys.

Reverend Joseph Ha Chi-shing remains the auxiliary bishop of the diocese. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Chow said in a statement that the appointment was “the outcome of a process of consultation and discernment” that had lasted for months and he would continue to oversee the two colleges until the end of the semester and to lead the Jesuits until a replacement was found.

The Hong Kong bishop is seen as one of the most important church appointments in China but it also remains one of the most challenging ones. Observers said the new bishop was expected to be “courageous and wise” in trying to unify the city’s politically polarised Catholic community after the 2019 protests and Beijing’s imposition of a sweeping national security law last June.

In September, Chow said Hong Kong independence and other sensitive topics were not taboo on campus under the national security law, as long as discussions did not advocate concepts such as separatism.

The two Wah Yan schools have said they would include national security education in the curriculum as required by the Education Bureau, and that neutrality would be preserved in teaching. Both colleges are known for having politically active students. In 2016, a student group at the Kowloon campus said Hong Kong independence was “one of the ways out” for the city.

In a letter to parents before the new school year started in September, Chow wrote: “Our school is not a political organisation or a platform for political manoeuvring from any side.” He said political activities such as class boycotts and propaganda of any sort were inappropriate.

03:08

China and the Vatican renew controversial bishops deal after ‘good start’

Reverend Professor Lo Lung-kwong, a research fellow with Chinese University of Hong Kong’s school of divinity, said it was a “difficult and prudent decision”. He said it was unusual to see a relatively young priest from a Roman Catholic order being made bishop but the choice may best serve the interests of Hong Kong Catholics in the eyes of Pope Francis.

“It seems to be a sensible choice at a time like this for Hong Kong as he is relatively young and has not displayed any obvious political leanings. Avoiding controversial figures reduces the likelihood of the church attracting criticism,” Lo said.

The appointment comes after Rome and Beijing in October agreed to renew a controversial agreement on the appointment of mainland Chinese bishops.

The South China Morning Post reported in November that the Holy See was in the final stage of selecting the next bishop for Hong Kong after a planned announcement was cancelled months earlier when it was turned down by the candidate at the last minute.

Retired bishop Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun had made a personal appeal to the Pope in September, urging him to hasten the appointment process and leave politics with Beijing out of it.

Born into a Catholic family, Chow studied for a master’s of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota before joining the Society of Jesus in 1984, studying philosophy in Ireland and theology in Hong Kong. He was ordained as a priest at the age of 35 and went on to earn a PhD in educational psychology at Loyola University Chicago, and a doctor of education from Harvard University.

He has overseen the two Hong Kong schools since 2007 and also teaches part-time at the Holy Spirit Seminary College of Theology and Philosophy.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Vatican makes ‘prudent’ choice for city’s bishop to polarised community