Quick Facts
Biography
Andrew Han Jingtao (simplified Chinese: 韩井涛; traditional Chinese: 韓井濤; pinyin: Hán Jǐngtāo; born July 26, 1921 or 1919 or 1923) is a Chinese Catholic priest and Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sipingjie since 1982.
Biography
Han was born in Jilin on July 26, 1921. Some documents record his birth year as 1919 or 1923. After studying, he was ordained a priest on December 14, 1947.
During the rule of Mao Zedong, he was arrested by the Communist government and sent to labor in labor camps. It was not until 1980, after Deng Xiaoping took power and became more open to religion, and he was released. He became a professor of Latin and Greek culture at Northeastern University in Changchun until he retired in 1987.
In 1982, he was secretly appointed as the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sipingjie. Four years later, his ordination was also silently held on May 6, 1986.
He is an underground bishop, but he repeatedly expressed his support for spiritual reconciliation between "underground church" and "open church" Catholics.