Cardinal Tagle: The Church in China is ‘fully Catholic and fully Chinese’
May 23, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, delivered the closing address at a conference marking the 100th anniversary of the First Council of the Catholic Church in China.
The Council of Shanghai (1924) “represents a realization, a fruitful fulfillment of the call to synodality that marks our ecclesial present,” and “shows how the mission of the Church protects and promotes the dignity of peoples and their cultures,” said Cardinal Tagle. The council also helped foster a “truly local church, in communion with the Bishop of Rome and the other local churches,” thanks in part to the apostolic delegate to China, Archbishop Celso Costantini, “a prophetic figure in the footsteps of Matteo Ricci.”
“I believe that Constantini and so many fathers of the Council of Shanghai would be happy to recognize that today the community of baptized Catholics in China is fully Catholic and fully Chinese,” said Cardinal Tagle.
Cardinal Tagle expressed deep satisfaction at the presence of Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Shanghai, who was installed without Vatican approval but with eventual papal acquiescence.
“Today, our brother Bishop Joseph Shen Bin is also with us here in Rome,” Cardinal Tagle concluded. “Those who have followed the events of the Church in China and its past history know what this means. We give thanks to the Lord, who has guarded and embraced this path even in trials.”
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Posted by: feedback -
May. 23, 2024 11:15 AM ET USA
The term "fully Chinese" (or "patriotic") is used by the communist party of China to indicate primary allegiance to the communist party: over the Catholic faith. The language used by card. Tagle may please the communists but makes little sense for the Catholics.
