100 Years since China’s only synod: Where are we now?

"The Lord, in China, has kept the faith of God's people all along the journey," said Pope Francis in a video message sent to participants in a seminar organized by the Holy See this May 21, 2024, in Rome on the 100th anniversary of the Concilium Sinense, China's first synod.

The seminar was attended by Bishop Joseph Shen Bin, President of the Chinese Bishops' Conference (not yet recognized by the Vatican) and Bishop of Shanghai. On the sidelines of the event, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said he hoped that the agreement on the appointment of bishops signed by China and the Vatican in 2018 "could be renewed and that certain points could be developed."

In the spring of 1924, the first and only Council of the Catholic Church in China, also known as the “Shanghai Synod,” was held at the cathedral of Shanghai. Pope Benedict XV had called for this undertaking in his apostolic letter Maximum Illud in 1919. The aim was to accelerate the autonomy and penetration into Chinese society of a Church then run entirely by foreign missionaries, but also to remove it from the influence of foreign powers. 

To celebrate the centenary of this event, the Holy See, together with the Pontifical Urban University, organized this one-day conference in partnership with the Institute of World Religions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Set in the large amphitheater of the Roman university’s campus, on a hill facing the Vatican walls, the meeting was intended as a further step in the Holy See’s significant rapprochement towards Beijing since the signing of agreements on the appointment of bishops in China in 2018.  

Asked about the next steps in this process on the sidelines of the meeting, Cardinal Parolin, the main architect of this diplomatic turnaround, said that the Holy See hoped "to be able to have a stable presence in China, even if initially it doesn't take the form of papal representation, of an apostolic nunciature."

The Italian cardinal insisted that the "form" of this representation could be "different" and that he wanted to increase contacts. Finally, he expressed the Holy See's wish that the temporary pastoral agreement of 2018, extended in 2020 and 2022, "could be renewed and certain points developed."

A certain optimism was perceptible in Pope Francis' video message with Chinese subtitles, which was broadcast at the start of the meeting. The Pontiff insisted on the "precious opportunity" represented by this seminar to contemplate the "furrow" traced by the Church in its history in China, from the mission of the 16th-century Jesuit Matteo Ricci to the present day. In his view, the Shanghai Council "swept into oblivion the erroneous approaches that had prevailed" until then, in particular the Church's compromises with the colonizing powers, and thus bore "fruit for the whole Chinese people."

In this historical perspective, the Pope only hinted at the "times of patience and trial" and the "unforeseen paths" that Chinese Catholics have experienced, particularly after 1949. The Church has existed underground, with bishops frequently arrested; a parallel, official Catholic Church has had the approval of the "Patriotic Association."

The Pope praised the merits of the centenary Council, even describing it as a model of a "synodal path" that has been and remains capable of suggesting "new paths for the whole Church."

In his address, the Pontiff stressed the importance of Chinese people being "in communion with the Bishop of Rome," so as to be able to truly contribute to the good not only of Chinese society, but more broadly, to a "social coexistence" of peoples.

Appearing on the video next to a reproduction of the Our Lady of Sheshan, the Argentine Pope declared that he would climb the hill of this great Marian shrine in Shanghai "in spirit" on May 24, the date established by Benedict XVI as the World Day of Prayer for Catholics in China in 2007.

The Pope was followed by the Bishop of Shanghai, Joseph Shen Bin, who had exceptionally come to Rome — trips by Chinese prelates being rare and controlled by the Communist government. President of the Chinese Bishops' Conference since 2022 and an active member of the Patriotic Association — Beijing's organ of control over the Church — Bishop Shen Bin was appointed bishop of Shanghai without papal authorization in April 2023. The Holy See protested before authorizing the appointment in June 2023 in a spirit of appeasement. 

In his address, Bishop Shen Bin recalled the humiliation of the Opium War of 1840 and the signing of "unequal treaties" imposed by foreign powers, and how the latter had been supported by certain missionaries with a "strong sense of cultural superiority," notably through the "patronage" system. He denounced the discrimination perpetrated against native priests and the European clergy's prejudice against traditional Chinese society and culture, claiming that these wrongs were at the root of the people's "hatred of the Catholic Church" as Chinese nationalist sentiment grew. 

On the other hand, the Chinese bishop praised the Holy See's awareness "of the dangers linked to the Church's ties with Western powers," praising the interventions of Popes Gregory XVI (On the Native Clergy, 1845) — and above all Benedict XV (Maximum Illud, 1919), who called for the Shanghai Synod. He also approved of the spirit of this synod, particularly the action of Bishop Celso Costantini, the Pope's representative at the time. However, he said that the recommendations of this meeting had only been marginally applied thereafter, with Catholicism retaining "the label of 'foreign religion.'"

"Since the founding of the new China in 1949, the Church in China has always remained faithful to its Catholic faith, although it has made great efforts to constantly adapt to the new political system," the Bishop of Shanghai went on to claim.

He asserted that Beijing today had "no interest in changing the Catholic faith," but hoped "only that the Catholic clergy and faithful will defend the interests of the Chinese people." He alluded to the Vatican's "hostile policy" towards the Chinese regime in the past.

From now on, "the development of the Church in China must be inscribed in a Chinese perspective," insisted Bishop Shen Bin, echoing President Xi Jinping's expression on the place of religions in China. Chinese priests, he insisted, must "closely link the development of the Church with the well-being of the people," but also help to sinicize the local Church. To this end, he called for the integration of elements of traditional Chinese culture into sacred art and liturgy. 

The conference was concluded by Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, who is of Chinese descent. He assured the audience that it was not a question of putting the missionaries of the past on trial, but of ensuring that the now-Chinese clergy could reap their fruits. Addressing Bishop Shen Bin in Chinese, he stressed the importance for the Church in China of "openness to the universal Church and to other local Churches."

Finally, the cardinal acknowledged that there could be "problems, misunderstandings, and incidents" in the Vatican's dialogue with the faithful in China, but insisted that there was "never any lukewarmness or indifference towards the path of the Catholic Church in China."