reading Shen Bin

The bishop of Shanghai is in Rome for the conference organized to mark the centenary of the first meeting of all Chinese bishops. “The Church is one, but its development in China must be in tune with the great rebirth of the Chinese nation.” Card Parolin: “Communion with the pontiff is a guarantee of a faith free of external political interests.” Card Tagle: “There may be misunderstandings, but we are never indifferent to the path of Chinese Catholics.”

Rome () – Share a reflection on the importance of a historical event that took place a hundred years ago, but with an eye toward current challenges. Starting with the burning question of how to understand the “Sinicization” of religions, a topic on which President Xi Jinping has long insisted in his religious policy. This was the central point of the conference organized by the Pontifical Urbaniana University and Fides Agency on the occasion of the centenary of the Council of Shanghai, the first council that brought together in 1924 the bishops and apostolic prefects that were in China at that time. A meeting whose importance was also highlighted today by Pope Francis with a video message.

There was much curiosity about the first official presence in Rome of the current bishop of Shanghai, Bishop Joseph Shen Bin, who was at the center of tensions last year due to Beijing’s unilateral decision to transfer him to the most important Chinese episcopal see, subsequently corrected with the appointment by Pope Francis. Along with him, some authoritative representatives of the academic and ecclesiastical world of the People’s Republic of China participated in the conference, who contributed to the study day with their vision of what happened a hundred years ago, but also on the relationship between the “inculturation” of the faith that promotes the doctrine of the Church and “sinicization”, two areas that were presented as two intertwined circles with meeting points but also with areas different from each other. Areas that are necessary – as stressed this afternoon in the conclusions by card. Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization – to encourage dialogue from the perspective of fraternity, so as not to fall into the risk of feeding “new self-referential closures.” “The history of the Chinese brothers has something important to show the universal Church – added Cardinal Tagle -. There may be misunderstandings, but never lukewarmness regarding the path of the Church in China.”

In his speech, Bishop Shen Bin referred to the intuitions of a century ago about the need for the Church in China to distance itself from the “colonial patronage”, but also to the resistance that this process encountered. He recalled that among the first six Chinese bishops ordained by Pius XI in 1926 was “Bishop Zhu Kaimin, of the diocese of Haimen, in the province of Jiangsu (of which he himself was bishop before being transferred to Shanghai). So we, in the diocese of Haimen, benefited very early from the Shanghai Council.” However, that change “was not immediate and radical in the Church in China” due to strong resistance. “At the time of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (in 1949), only 29 of China’s 137 dioceses had Chinese bishops, and only 3 of the 20 archbishops were Chinese. The Catholic Church in China had not truly freed itself from foreign powers to become one. work directed by Chinese Christians, and had not yet managed to shake off the ‘foreign religion’ label.

And what does the experience of the Shanghai Council say to the Church in China today? The Bishop of Shanghai referred to “fidelity to the Gospel of Christ” in the development of the Church in China. Bishop Shen Bin stated that even “after the founding of the new China in 1949, the Church in China has always remained faithful to its Catholic faith, despite the great commitment to constantly adapt to the new political system.” The bishop of Shanghai maintained that the same “religious freedom policy that the Chinese government applies has no interest in changing the Catholic faith,” but only hopes that the clergy and faithful “defend the interests of the Chinese people and free themselves.” from the control of foreign powers.” Already at the time of the founding of the Patriotic Association – the prelate argued – the Party expressed “understanding regarding the need for Chinese Catholics to be in communion with Rome in spiritual matters”, on the condition of that the contacts “did not go against the interests of the Chinese people, that they did not violate China’s sovereignty and that the Vatican changed its policy of hostility towards China. And today the statute of the Council of Chinese Bishops, in its article 4, expressly states.” which is based “on Sacred Scripture and Tradition, on the spirit that the Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic, and on the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.”

But at the same time the development of the Church in China – continued Bishop Shen Bin – “must follow a Chinese perspective.” Citing the evangelical “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s,” he attributed the problems faced by the Catholic community in China in the 20th century to the Western model of relationship between Church and State. “Some missionaries,” he said, “had a strong sense of European cultural superiority and even intended to use the Christian religion to change Chinese society and culture, which inevitably many Chinese opposed and even detested.”

For the bishop of Shanghai, closing this fracture today means accepting that the development of the Church in China must “be in line” with the “great renaissance of the Chinese nation at a global level, with a Chinese-style modernization” such as the one that is carrying out his government. The Catholic Church in China “must move in the same direction, following a path of Sinicization that is in line with current Chinese society and culture. We often – he added – say that faith has no borders, but believers have their own homeland and a culture that was born in its own homeland”.

In this direction, the immersion in traditional Chinese culture is also oriented, which the Shanghai Council had foreseen but did not carry out: “Explore the use of traditional Chinese culture in the expression of the Catholic faith – listed Bishop Shen Bin – ; support the adoption of traditional Chinese styles in church architecture, art and music; integrate elements of traditional Chinese culture into the Church’s liturgy.”

For his part, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, in the other central speech, reviewed the prophecy of the vision carried out by the then apostolic delegate Mons. Celso Costantini, who convened and directed the Shanghai Council taking into account the sensitivities regarding of “the excessive dependence on the foreign component of the mission”, which were maturing in the Catholic Church and to which the apostolic letter had given voice Maximum Illud of Benedict Parolin -. With balance, he recognized the merit of many foreign missionaries who, with a true sense of charity and dedication, had brought the Gospel to China and had worked for the social development of their people. However, he also recognized that the ‘human aid’ offered by foreign powers had posed a passive moral weight in the economy of evangelization.”

The Vatican Secretary of State recognized the tough resistance that the Shanghai Council faced for its implementation. He recalled that Bishop Costantini himself “always reacted with open-mindedness to the attacks: the same thing will happen as with the rerum Novarum – he wrote in 1926 – that at first he did not find favor in some old Catholic circles. The old circles disappeared and the rerum Novarum became the venerated and undisputed Magna Carta of Christian sociology.

Parolin also pointed out the very close relationship between the inculturation of the Church in China, the indigenization of the clergy and the link with the successor of Peter. It is no coincidence – he observed – that Pius XI wanted the first Chinese bishops to be ordained in Rome, in Saint Peter’s. “Precisely that communion,” he explained, “was the best guarantee of a faith freed from external political interests and firmly anchored in local culture and society.”

The other great directive of Bishop Costantini went in this same direction: his attempt (which remained unfinished) to establish a direct dialogue with the country’s authorities, without the intermediation of other powers. In his intentions, the Vatican Secretary of State continued, he was the other side of the same inculturation effort. A topic that leads to the issues that are still pending in the relationship between the Holy See and the government in Beijing. After the 2018 Agreement on the appointment of bishops – which is heading towards the third renewal next autumn, although with far from simple implementation – there are other questions that remain open. “It is always difficult to make predictions – said Card. Parolin when he responded to journalists’ questions. We have long wanted to be able to have a stable presence in China, even if initially it does not take the form of a pontifical representation, of an apostolic nunciature. Our goal is to increase and deepen our contacts, the way may be different.” The modalities of “recognition of episcopal conferences” are also being discussed, so as to include all Chinese bishops. But it is an issue that is still being worked on.”