WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Ignatius Wang, 75, from the office of Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco.
           
The acceptance of his resignation was announced in Washington, May 16, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
           
Bishop Wang (pronounced Wong) is believed to be the first Latin Rite Asian and first person born in China to be named to the U.S. hierarchy of bishops.
           
Ignatius Wang was born in Peking, China, in 1934. He is fifth of eight children of a Catholic Chinese family. His parents were relatives of a Manchurian Emperor, the rulers of the last Chinese dynasty. He studied for the priesthood in Hong Kong, where he was ordained for the Prefecture of Kienow, China, July 4, 1959. He completed doctoral studies in Canon Law at the Pontifical University Propaganda Fide in Rome in 1962. Unable to return to China when he completed his studies, he went to the Diocese of St. George’s in Granada, where he was pastor and vicar general for 12 years.
           
In 1974, he began work in the San Francisco Archdiocese and worked in the archdiocesan tribunal for 25 years. He also served as assistant pastor and pastor in several parishes. In 1981 he became coordinator of the Chinese Apostolate in the San Francisco
Archdiocese, and in 1994 added responsibilities as the Archdiocesan Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. In 1998, he was named chancellor of the archdiocese. He was named auxiliary bishop of San Francisco in 2002.

At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Wang has served on the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Islanders and the Board of Bishops for the American College, Louvain, Belgium.

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