Matteo Ricci, SJ, and Xu Guangqi from Athanasius Kircher’s China Illustrata (Amsterdam, 1667). Ricci (1552 – 1610) one of the first Jesuits in China, was known as the founder of the China mission. Xu Guangqi (1562 – 1633), a very influential convert to Christianity, was a member of the Ming Dynasty bureaucracy from Shanghai who rose to the rank of Imperial Grand Secretary
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The effort of Pope Benedict XVI to normalise relations with the Communist Government in China since his pontification in 2005 has been welcomed with joy and gratitude by the Catholic community in China. Meanwhile the rest of the world is watching anxiously to see whether the Vatican’s diplomacy will bring about greater religious freedom to a nation governed by a regime that has a notorious history of persecuting its nationals for their religious faith. A recent article published in AsiaNews, an official Catholic website, however, calls into question whether the Vatican’s advice to Chinese Catholics about reconciliation, unity and dialogue with Chinese authorities will gradually deteriorate into a policy of appeasement, which ultimately undermines the effort of those who are defending their rights to religion in China.
