Beijing’s unilateral decision to transfer Msgr. Shen Bin affects a bishopric that is fundamental to the history and present of Catholic communities in China. Card. Kung Pin-mei, who spent more than thirty years in prison. And here Our Lady of Sheshan is venerated, in whose name Benedict XVI instituted the world day of prayer for Catholics in China.
Milan () – The Holy See was informed a few days ago of the decision of the Chinese authorities to transfer Msgr. Shen Bin, Bishop of Haimen, to the diocese of Shanghai, and learned of the inauguration this morning by the media. Official Vatican sources, interviewed by They answered this way today when they were asked for clarification on the matter, explaining that at the moment there is no statement regarding the assessment of the incident.
Today’s unilateral decision – which comes a few months after the crisis over the appointment of Monsignor Juan Peng Weizhao as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Jiangxi – calls attention to the weight of the measure taken by Beijing a few days before Easter . Indeed, the Episcopal See of Shanghai is not only the local Church of one of the largest metropolises in China, but also a fundamental place in the history and current life of the Chinese Catholic community. It is a vital community, with some 150,000 Catholics, some 40 parishes and many activities promoted by local Catholics.
Its origins go back directly to Paulo Xu Guangqi, a mandarin of the Ming court and a disciple of Matteo Ricci, considered the first Christian in the city. It was he who in 1608 invited the Jesuit Lazzaro Cattaneo to preach, who stayed for two years. And the first church was built on his family’s land, in the neighborhood called Xujiahui in his honor and where the Cathedral of San Ignacio stands, the same one where the inauguration took place this morning.
Shanghai was also the site of the most important event in the history of Chinese Catholicism at the beginning of the 20th century: the Plenary Council of the Chinese Church convened in 1924 by the then Apostolic Delegate, Monsignor Celso Costantini. It was a crucial moment for the Church’s reflection on the inculturation of Christianity in China.
Then came the storm of the communist Revolution, and Shanghai was the place of chaining of mons. Ignatius Kung Pin-mei, the first Chinese archbishop at this see, who was arrested by communist authorities on September 8, 1955. He was released after 30 years in prison and later went into exile in the United States, where he died in 2000. Already during his imprisonment, in his first consistory in 1979, John Paul II had named him cardinal “in pectore” as a sign of closeness to the Church in China and he only made his appointment known in 1991.
Meanwhile, in Shanghai -after the Cultural Revolution- “official” Catholic bodies loyal to the party had autonomously appointed the Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Jin Luxian, who would only be in communion with the Pope again in 2005. He died in 2013 at the age of 97, and for ten years this fundamental episcopal see remained vacant due to the resounding gesture of the designated successor, Bishop Joseph Ma Daqin, who in 2012 -in the episcopal ordination that took place with the mandate of the Pope- had announced his intention not to join the Patriotic Association. Before him, in 2011, the other “official” auxiliary bishop, Mgr Joseph Wenzhi Xing, now 60, had also been forced to resign for reasons that were never made clear.
Since 2012, Monsignor Ma Daqin has been de facto secluded in the seminary adjacent to the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan, the heart of devotion for Catholics in Shanghai and throughout China. Benedict XVI, in his Letter to Chinese Catholics in 2007, invited Catholics from all over the world to look at this shrine when he established the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, which is celebrated every year on May 24. .
