Rome – “One Hundred Years since the Council of China: Between History and Present.” This is the title of the academic event that will mark the beginning of the academic year of the Pontifical Urbaniana University on Friday, October 10, at 5 p.m. in the Aula Magna.
It will be a special day, because in the morning, students, professors, and staff of the university, located on the Janiculum Hill, will celebrate together its Jubilee of Hope by passing through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica and participating in the Eucharist presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization .
During the afternoon of the academic event, the volume “One Hundred Years since the Concilium Sinense: Between History and the Present 1924-2024,” published by Urbaniana University Press and edited by the Missionary Dicastery, will be 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. On Friday afternoon, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Hong Kong professor Erica Siu-Mui Lee, and Father Federico Lombardi, President of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, will present lectures on the recent history of the Catholic Church in China, starting with the “Concilium Sinense.” The academic event will conclude with a presentation by Professor Vincenzo Buonomo, Pontifical Delegate to the Pontifical Urbaniana University.
That day at Urbaniana University
The conference, held on May 21, 2024, at Urbaniana University on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Council of Shanghai, was organized by the Pontifical University in collaboration with Fides Agency and the Pastoral Commission for China. The symposium, which opened with a video message from Pope Francis, was a significant event in many respects: five speakers from the People’s Republic of China also participated in the conference, including the Bishop of Shanghai, Joseph Shen Bin, the first bishop from the People’s Republic of China to come to Rome to speak at a public conference organized by a Dicastery of the Holy See.
The legacy of the “Chinese Council”
The “Primum Concilium Sinense” began in Shanghai, in the Cathedral of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, on May 15, 1924 . Bishops, Vicars General, religious and priests, most of whom were born in distant countries and came to China as missionaries, gather under the presidency of Archbishop Celso Costantini, Apostolic Delegate in China, with the task of revitalizing the mission of the Church on Chinese territory in the light of “Maximum Illud”, the Apostolic Letter written by Pope Benedict XV in 1919. In this letter, the Pope emphasized that faith in Christ “does not belong exclusively to a certain nation”, and that becoming a Christian in any part of the world does not mean “giving up one’s national rights to submit to foreign tutelage”.
The Council of Shanghai formulated detailed provisions to promote and accompany the flourishing of a native church, with Chinese bishops and priests being entrusted with the leadership of local communities.
The council decrees contained concrete provisions to counteract the colonial mentality that had also penetrated church practices.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.