Joseph Xu Honggen

Joseph Xu Honggen (Chinese: 徐宏根; born April 1962) is a Chinese Catholic priest and Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Suzhou since 2005.

Joseph Xu Honggen
Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Suzhou
Church	Cathedral of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, Suzhou
Province	Jiangsu
Diocese	Roman Catholic Diocese of Suzhou
Installed	2005
Predecessor	Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei
Orders
Ordination	1990
Personal details
Born	April 1962 (age 61–62) Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Nationality	Chinese
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Alma mater	Sheshan Seminary St. Joseph's College Catholic Theological Union
Coat of arms
Chinese name
Chinese	徐宏根
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xú Hónggēn

In this Chinese name, the family name is Xu.

Biography

Xu was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu, in April 1962, to a Catholic family. He graduated from Sheshan Seminary. After college, he was assigned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Suzhou. Two years later, he went to the United States, where he studied at the St. Joseph's College and Catholic Theological Union. He was ordained a priest in 1990 by bishop Matthias Ma Longlin (Chinese: 马龙麟).

Xu returned to China in June 1999 and that same year became Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Suzhou, which was approved by the Pope Benedict XVI. In October 2016, he was received by the Pope Francis.