by Cardinal Pietro Parolin*
Rome – We publish the speech delivered by by Cardinal Pietro Parolin on the occasion of the Academic Conference entitled “100 years since the Concilium Sinense: between history and present” which opened the academic year of the Pontifical Urbaniana University on Friday afternoon, October 10, in the Aula Magna of the university.
During the Academic Event, the volume “100 years since the Concilium Sinense: between history and present 1924-2024,” published by Urbaniana University Press and edited by the Missionary Dicastery, was presented.
This volume contains the contributions of the International Conference on the “Concilium Sinense,” which took place at the Urbaniana University on May 21, 2024, exactly 100 years after the Council of Shanghai.
Dear Academic Authorities,
Dear Students,
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
I am delighted to be able to share this day with you, which is not only the beginning of the New Academic Year, but also marks the culmination of your Jubilee Pilgrimage in the Holy Year of Hope.
This Academic ceremony draws inspiration from the volume that collects the Proceedings of the Conference held in this very Aula Magna on May 21, 2024, and dedicated to the Council of Shanghai, the historic “Concilium Sinense.” I remember that day, which I attended, and in particular, the joy of being able to welcome the speakers who came for the occasion from the People’s Republic of China. I therefore thank the organizers of this Conference and the editors of this volume, which offers an opportunity to reflect once again on the Concilium Sinense and rediscover its relevance today.
In this speech, I would simply like to recall a few themes that ideally connect the Council of Shanghai to the present and future journey of Chinese Catholic communities.
1. The Council of Shanghai and the “signs of the times”
The Council of Shanghai was convened by mandate of Pope Pius XI with the aim of fostering the further and proper development of the apostolic work in China, laying the foundations for the flourishing of a mature Church, fully integrated into Chinese history and culture. The Apostolic See clearly understood that, at this stage, evangelization needed to be freed from the ambiguity of possible identification with the political interests of a large part of the West. This was, in fact, one of the issues to be resolved. One solution was to gradually but decisively entrust the leadership of Chinese dioceses to Chinese priests and bishops.
Last year, I said at the Conference – and I repeat it today – that it is certainly not a question of making summary judgements on the work accomplished up to that point by missionaries in China. They have certainly made a significant contribution, which only careful research can re-evaluate in a balanced way, placing it within the limits and opportunities of their time. It is right to be grateful to the generations of missionaries who worked hard and gave their lives to sow the seeds of the Gospel in China with sincere love. However, the patronage offered by some Western powers placed a heavy burden on their moving missionary work, both because it limited, in some ways, the free initiative of the Holy See, and because it distorted the Chinese perception of the missionary presence, as if the work of evangelization were an integral part of the policy of colonization.
In this context, we can also cite the long-standing resistance of some European states to the numerous attempts by the Holy See and China to consolidate their direct relations. The story of Archbishop Celso Costantini, sent to China as an Apostolic Delegate, whose visionary pastoral guidance and valuable diplomatic work were subject to numerous attacks, is a particular example of this. Thus, precious opportunities and years were lost.
Despite objections and resistance, both internal and external, the seeds sown by the Council of Shanghai quickly began to bear fruit. Indeed, two years after its conclusion, on October 28, 1926, Pope Pius XI consecrated the first six Chinese bishops of the modern era in Rome, in St. Peter’s Basilica. Twenty years later, in the turmoil of the Chinese Civil War and World War II, on April 11, 1946, Pope Pius XII promoted the definitive return to normal life for the Church in China by elevating the apostolic vicariates that existed there to the rank of dioceses. Strengthened by the change initiated by the Council of Shanghai and the pressure exerted by historical circumstances, the Holy See and the Church in China, guided by the Holy Spirit, were able to discover and experiment with particular forms of presence and inculturation.
This journey was authoritatively accompanied by the Apostolic Letter Maximum illud of Benedict XV, dated November 30, 1919: the magisterial document that most inspired the Council of Shanghai. This document affirmed mission as an action proper to the Church, simultaneously freeing it from a false “Occidentalism,” according to which Christianity was a mere product of Western civilization, fatally destined to remain, outside of Europe, a “foreign religion.” At the same time, it underlined the inalienable value of the bond of communion of all the Churches with the Pope, who is not only the guardian of Catholic identity, but also the supreme guarantor of the healthy growth of the faith within every human culture. Celso Costantini himself emphasizes in his writings that “the Pope is the spiritual leader of all Catholics in the world, regardless of their nationality; but this obedience to the Pope not only does not harm the love each one owes to his country, but purifies and revives it . The Pope wants Chinese Catholics to love their country and be the best citizens” . Memoirs of Facts and Ideas, vol. I, XIV).
2. The River of history
Even the clearest intuitions and the most promising beginnings must contend with the unforeseen events of history. In the case of China, the historical events of the last century led to the liberation of the people from foreign colonialism. However, the new political order imposed in the country inevitably caused divisions within the Catholic community, which led to the practice of episcopal ordinations being celebrated without the consent of the Bishop of Rome.
Celso Costantini, who, after his mission to China, had since been appointed Secretary of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, advised Pius XII not to interpret the Chinese situation through European lenses. In his 1958 encyclical Ad Apostolorum Principis, the Pope recalled, on the one hand, the latae sententiae censures that weigh on those who confer and receive episcopal ordination outside of communion with the Bishop of Rome, without, however, ever using the term “schism” to refer to Chinese bishops who had been ordained without a papal mandate. Furthermore, in the same encyclical, he reaffirmed the duty of Chinese Catholics to love their homeland and respect laws that do not contradict Christian faith and morals, in order to foster the harmonious development of the entire nation.
3. The Council of Shanghai and the present of the Church in China
The new and positive journey of the Catholic Church in China, inaugurated by the Council of Shanghai, has also seen setbacks, difficulties, and traumas. However, no one can ignore that this is, in reality, an almost constitutive condition of the Church on a pilgrimage through history. The Catholic Church in China today exhibits many characteristics that seem to fulfill the expectations expressed by the Concilium Sinense.
For example, Chinese Catholic communities, “small flocks” scattered among a vast people, feel fully integrated into the reality of their nation, share its journey, and in no way feel like a foreign body adhering to a foreign religion. Today, the Chinese Catholic community, in communion with the Bishop of Rome and the universal Church, seeks its own path to be missionary and useful to its country. Despite difficulties and suffering, signs of the liveliness of life in these communities are emerging: both in the celebration of the Word, in the administration of the Sacraments, and in the works of charity carried out for the good of all. This undoubtedly echoes the wishes expressed more than a hundred years ago by the Council of Shanghai.
During the same period, all the Popes, even in the most critical moments, always indicated the path of forgiveness, reconciliation, and unity, in order to heal wounds and walk together. On this basis, the Chinese Catholic community has been protected by the Lord in the faith of the Apostles.
In recent decades, the papal magisterium concerning the situation of the Catholic Church in China found its culminating expression in the Letter of Benedict XVI to Chinese Catholics, published in 2007. It is in this general context that the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China also matured.
The Agreement was signed in September 2018 and renewed three times. These agreements were reiterated under the pontificate of Pope Francis. But the path that led to them began long before, under the Pontificate of Saint John Paul II, and continued under the Pontificate of Benedict XVI, who gave his consent for the signing in 2009. In the 2007 Letter mentioned above, Pope Benedict XVI expressed the wish for “an agreement with the government to resolve certain issues concerning the selection of candidates for the episcopate” and to adapt the ecclesiastical circumscriptions and provinces to the new subdivisions of the civil administration. This is therefore a milestone reached at the end of a process of discernment that lasted decades.
It is a tool to be used, and its effects must be verified, through a journey marked by realism, patience, and trust, to be renewed even in the face of difficult moments and stalemates.
I would like to emphasize in particular the ecclesial criteria that inspire it and the perspective of faith with which it must be considered. As an instrument, it certainly does not claim to have solved or resolve all problems—some might describe the results achieved so far as “disappointing”—but I believe that the Agreement must be considered a “seed of hope”—that hope that does not disappoint, as the Holy Year we are currently experiencing reminds us—which, despite the persistent difficulties and the setbacks along the way that no one is unaware of, with the grace of God, will not fail to bear fruit in the proclamation of the Gospel, in communion with the universal Church and the Bishop of Rome, and in authentic Christian life. It is on this basis that we can look forward to the work that remains to be done and continue to actively engage in it.
I would like to conclude this brief address by quoting a few words from Pope Francis, taken from a video message addressed to the Congress on the Concilium Sinense: “The Lord in China has safeguarded the faith of the people of God along the way. And the faith of God’s people has been the compass that has shown the way throughout this time, before and after the Council of Shanghai, until today. […] Those who follow Jesus love peace, and find themselves together with all those who work for peace, in a time in which we see inhuman forces at work that seem to want to accelerate the end of the world.”
Thank you all.
.
*Secretary of State of His Holiness
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.