Pontifical Urban University hosts conference on Church in China

By Lisa Zengarini

The Pontifical Urban University in Rome is to hold an international conference on May 21 to mark the centenary of the First Council of China in Shanghai in 1924.

Entitled “100 years since the Concilium Sinense: between history and present", the event will turn the spotlight back on that milestone event which set the foundations of the inculturation process of the Catholic Church in China to understand its scope and relevance for the Church and its apostolic work today in the context of globalization.

The First Council of China and the process of inculturation of the Church 

The Shanghai Council convened from May 15 to June 12, 1924 gathering all the bishops of country under the direction of the first Apostolic Delegate in China  Archbishop Celso Costantini, with the mandate to implement Pope Benedict XV’s ’Maximum Illud’ Apostolic Letter, reaffirming  that Christ "is not foreign to any nation" and  that becoming a Christian does not imply abandoning loyalty to one’s people and “submitting to the pretensions and domination of a foreign power.”

In light of that historic papal document considered to be the “Magna Charta” of contemporary Catholic missions, the Council gave detailed provisions to encourage the indigenization of the Chinese Church by entrusting its dioceses and parishes to native bishops and priests, counteracting the colonial mentality that had also penetrated ecclesial practices.

Programme of the conference

Keynote speakers at the conference, organized in collaboration with Fides Agency and the Vatican Commission for the Church in China, will include Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, and the Bishop of Shanghai Giuseppe Shen Bin.

Academics and researchers from the People's Republic of China will also give speeches including  Professor Zheng Xiaoyun and Professor Liu Guopeng of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The conference will opened by a video message from Pope Francis.