Shanghai – Father Ignatius Wu Jianlin was consecrated Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Shanghai. The consecration liturgy was celebrated this morning, Wednesday, October 15, the Feast of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Doctor of the Church, in the Cathedral of Shanghai, in Xujiahui district, dedicated to Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The principal consecrator was Joseph Shen Bin, Ordinary Bishop of the Diocese of Shanghai.
The solemn liturgy of episcopal consecration was also concelebrated by Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang of Hangzhou, Bishop John Baptist Li Suguang of Nanchang, and Bishop Joseph Xu Honggen of Suzhou.
More than 600 people, including priests, religious sisters, and lay people, gathered in the Shanghai Cathedral for the celebration.
Ignatius Wu Jianlin was born in January 1970 in the Chongming District of Shanghai. From 1991 to 1996 he studied theology at the Seminary of Sheshan. He was ordained a priest in November 1997. On April 28, 2025, he was elected as a candidate for the office of Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Shanghai. According to today’s Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office, “On August 11, 2025, Pope Leo XIV appointed Ignatius Wu Jianlin as Auxiliary Bishop of Shanghai, after having approved his candidacy within the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.”
Thadeus Ma Daqin, who was ordained auxiliary bishop in June 2012, when the diocese was still led by Jesuit Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian also lives in Shanghai.
Ma Daqin was elected bishop with the approval of both the Holy See and the Beijing government. However, since the day of his episcopal ordination, he has been forced to remain in the Shanghai seminary, having announced at the end of the ordination ceremony his intention to resign from his previous positions in the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics. As a result, the governing body of Chinese Catholic bishops withdrew his approval to exercise the episcopal ministry and suspended him from the public exercise of the priesthood for two years.
During this entire period, the Holy See has recognized and continues to recognize Ma Daqin as auxiliary bishop of Shanghai.
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