The Diocese of Macau is a Latin Church exempt ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church, in contrast with the Diocese of Hong Kong, which is, de jure, part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Guangdong. The territory of the Diocese of Macau encompasses Macau, a special administrative region of China. In theory, a part of Guangdong province also belongs to the diocese, Its cathedral is the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady. Its patron saints are Francis Xavier and Catherine of Siena, and its motto is Scientia et Virtus (Knowledge and Virtue). Stephen Lee Bun-sang is the current bishop and the third ethnically Chinese bishop of the diocese.

History

It was established on January 23, 1576, by the edict of Pope Gregory XIII, on vast territory split off from Roman Catholic Diocese of Malacca. It originally covered China, Japan, Vietnam and the Malay Archipelago, with the exception of the Philippines. From its founding, the diocese was a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese (soon Patriarchate) of Goa, in Portuguese India. It gradually lost most of its territory, in and around continental China: It was made exempt in 1975, following Portugal's loss of sovereignty over Goa, its former metropolitan. It now only administers Macau alone, the last regions outside Macau under its administration were the parishes of Saint Joseph in Singapore (re-united with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore c. 1972) and St. Peter's Church in Malacca (now as part of Roman Catholic Diocese of Malacca-Johor), which separated from the Diocese of Macau in 1981.

Bishops

Bishops of Macau

from 1641 to 1668, no bishops were named due to the Portuguese Restoration War between Spain and Portugal

Coadjutor bishops

Parishes

The diocese is divided in:

Schools

The following schools are directly operated by the diocese: There are other Catholic schools in Macau which are operated by Catholic orders.