Vatican City (Fides Service) - A Convention on the Catholic Church in China between 1840 and 1911 was opened yesterday, 27 March by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, at the Urban University in Rome. The convention is promoted by the University and the Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche dell'Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, and the association "Tian Xia Yi Jia" (One family under the heavens) founded in 1989 to foster cultural contact and historical studies in modern day China. The Cardinal read a letter for the occasion sent by Pope John Paul II, who has China always in his heart. The Rector of the university, Mons. Ambrogio Spreafico also addressed those present.
The purpose of the convention is to examine the history of China and the missionary congregations in China after 1840 when the first Opium War led to a heavy penetration of European until the fall of the empire and the coming of the republic, through the Boxer revolt. Pope John Paul II has referred to these vicissitudes and in particular the problem of relation between the Catholic Church and European colonialism in China. Along this line the convention hopes to examine the activity of the Holy See and the missionary congregation towards China, its culture and its people between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
The first conference given by Prof. Andrea Riccardi was "The Catholic Church and the World of the Others". This was followed by papers by Agostino Giovagnoli ("The Popes and China: from Gregory XVI to Leo XlII"), Mark Fang ("What the Chinese said about Jesuit missionaries") and Elisa Giunipero ("Propaganda Fide, between European missionaries and Chinese clergy "). The Convention will close Saturday March 29. (Fides Service 28/3/2003 EM lines 26 Words: 317)