Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Yuci (Agenzia Fides) - On September 23, His Exc. Mgr. Giovanni Battista Wang Jin, Bishop of Yuci (Yütze) in Shanxi province (Mainland China) died at the age of 90, after a long illness. The Prelate was born on April 22, 1924 in Taiyuan, Shanxi, from a family with a long Catholic tradition. From an early age he felt the vocation to priesthood and in 1935 he entered the minor seminary in Taiyuan. He was forced to return to his family as a result of the Japanese invasion in 1937, the following year he was able to resume his studies at the seminary. In 1943 he went to the major seminary in Taiyuan and in 1949 he completed his theological studies at the seminary in Macao. After a year of pastoral internship in the Archdiocese of Taiyuan, he was ordained a priest on June 9, 1951.
He then carried out his pastoral ministry in various parishes and as rector of the seminary, suffering arrest and imprisonment for twenty years (1965-1985). He was released from prison on April 8, 1985 and began to serve in the Diocese of Yuci. On 14 September 1999, after obtaining the approval of the Holy See, he received his episcopal ordination from His Exc. Mgr. Silvestro Li Jiantang, Archbishop of Taiyuan. During his episcopal ministry he always remained faithful to the principles of the Church of Christ, who he deeply loved throughout his long life. During his period at the Diocese of Yuci he paid particular attention to priestly vocations: from the year 2000 thirty priests were ordained, the last were ordained on July 9, by the Prelate himself, though he had been ill for some time and was forced to frequent hospitalizations.
Mgr. Wang Jin’s funeral was celebrated on October 7, at the Cathedral of Yuci. He was buried in the cemetery of priests in Dongergou (Taiyuan). (Agenzia Fides 08/10/2014)
