SAN FRANCISCO - A Chinese-American was named a bishop in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco on Friday, becoming the first bishop of Asian descent in the United States.

Monsignor Ignatius Wang, 68, puts a face on the changing demographics of Catholicism in America. His appointment will "lift the hearts," Wang predicted, of San Francisco's approximately 10,000 Chinese-American Catholics, a small but fervent community whose first mission in San Francisco was established in 1903.

In a city with nearly 200,000 residents of Chinese background, the appointment is a "very historic and exciting moment for us," said Archbishop William J. Levada. Wang will be ordained as one of two auxiliary bishops of the archdiocese Jan. 30.

Born in Beijing, ordained a priest in Hong Kong and for 10 years a parish priest popular in the cafes of San Francisco's North Beach, Wang is also a raconteur who reads John Grisham novels and Asian philosophy.

He is chancellor, a position that makes him one of Levada's "Cabinet level" policy advisers. Formerly the official liaison between Levada and the Chinese-American community, he celebrates Mass in Cantonese at about a half-dozen churches, including in Chinatown.

Word of the appointment moved through the Chinese-American community Friday. "It's a tribute to Monsignor Wang, who has been a real leader, a spiritual and community leader," said Dr. Collin P. Quock, a cardiologist who also directs a $10 million-plus fund-raising effort for a new Chinese-Catholic community center and schools in Chinatown. "And it reflects well on the growing significance of the Chinese and Asian populations, so we are very, very pleased."

Among the more than 60 million Catholics in the United States, Hispanic Americans are the largest minority, accounting for at least a third, according to studies. By contrast, a Georgetown University report published in 2000 said 2 percent of American Catholics are Asian; the numbers are greater in California, where Asian Americans are said to account for 7 percent of Catholics.