By Justin McLellan, Catholic News Service • Posted November 18, 2024

ROME (CNS) — Like Father Matteo Ricci, a 16th-century Jesuit missionary known for his efforts to bridge Christianity and Chinese culture, the Catholic Church today must engage in dialogue with the ruling and intellectual class of China to present Christianity in a way that does not threaten the country’s culture, a Chinese cardinal said.

Speaking at a conference on Father Ricci hosted by Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University Nov. 15, Cardinal Stephen Chow of Hong Kong said that due to the Jesuit missionary’s capacity for dialogue and intellectual prowess, “Christianity was not seen as a heresy to Chinese culture, but a novel teaching compatible with Chinese culture.”

However, when Catholics in China started prohibiting ancestor worship, a key value in Chinese culture, the government saw that as a threat and started suppressing Catholicism.

Although Catholicism continued to exist in China, the cardinal said that it was particularly oppressed during the first two decades of communist rule. Amid the new nation’s efforts to form a national identity, it purged Western influences, “and unfortunately the Catholic Church was seen as a part of the Western world.”

Drawing parallels to Father Ricci’s time, Cardinal Chow said that the present moment is “an important time for the church to have dialogue with the intellectual scholars of China on sinicization.”

“Maybe there is a way that the church in China can really be a Chinese church, if we do it well and pray to the Holy Spirit to enlighten both sides,” he said. “The Holy Spirit is not restricted to Catholics, and it is open to the truth.”

“Sinicization is not going to go away,” the cardinal added. “It is here, so we need to engage in dialogue.”

Cardinal Chow said that beyond discussions on inculturation, “the Catholic Church, as well as the Protestant church, has always been seen until now as foreign religions.” As a result, “the government is stepping in to say, ‘You’re going to become a Chinese religion,’ but of course we may not agree on the same process, so that’s why we need dialogue.”

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, also spoke at the conference, and said that Father Ricci’s outreach is a model of the relationship-building and dialogue needed to advance the church in China today.

“The figure of Matteo Ricci continues to offer today a lasting example and a credible witness in the eyes of the Chinese people” for “building and rebuilding relationships of respectful and honest dialogue and collaboration for the common good of the Chinese people,” he said, “and that, I insist, holds true today; it is very relevant today.”

The cardinal said an attitude of mutual understanding is embodied in the emphasis of recent popes on inculturation, beginning with St. John Paul II and continuing through Pope Francis.

“Inculturation should make encounter possible, a true and honest encounter that is never definitive, since it evolves toward new, deeper, more sincere and honest encounters,” he said.

Such an attitude is important in evangelization but also in advancing diplomatic dialogue, Cardinal Parolin said, citing as an example the “gradual steps” the Vatican has made with its agreement with China on the naming of bishops in the country.

“A true encounter took place in Matteo Ricci’s case,” he said, and “if there was an encounter, it means that encounter is possible. Therefore, it is worth continuing, searching for it and building it with patience and courage.”