Chinese bishops to join Rome conference marking centenary of historic ordinations

Cardinal Stephen Chow to address formation and inculturation as Church recalls consecration of six Chinese bishops by Pope Pius XI

VATICAN (SE/Fides): Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing and Bishop Ignatius Ding Zuyao of Haimen will join Church leaders and scholars in Rome on November 5 for a conference marking the centenary of the consecration of six Chinese bishops by Pope Pius XI.

The international gathering at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, entitled “The Face of the Universal Church in China: 100 Years Since the Consecration of the First Six Chinese Bishops”, will also feature Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, S.J., bishop of Hong Kong, who will speak on “inculturation, Sinicisation and interculturality in formation”.

Pietro Cardinal Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, will address the gathering, while Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, will deliver the concluding remarks.

The conference commemorates the ordinations in St. Peter’s Basilica on 28 October 1926 of Odorico Cheng Hede, Melchior Sun Dezhen, Joseph Hu Ruoshan, Philip Zhao Huaiyi, Simon Zhu Kaimin and Aloysius Chen Guodi.

Their consecration marked a turning point in the development of a locally led Church in China. Apart from Gregory Luo Wenzao, ordained a bishop in 1685, the country’s Catholic bishops before 1926 had been foreign missionaries.

The conference commemorates the ordinations in St. Peter’s Basilica on 28 October 1926 of Odorico Cheng Hede, Melchior Sun Dezhen, Joseph Hu Ruoshan, Philip Zhao Huaiyi, Simon Zhu Kaimin and Aloysius Chen Guodi

At the consecration Mass, Pius XI spoke of his overflowing joy at seeing these “first fruits and new shoots of the Chinese episcopate”.

A Church rooted in its own people

The ordinations formed part of a missionary renewal promoted by the Holy See in the early decades of the 20th century, including efforts to free evangelisation from a colonial mindset.

In his 1919 apostolic letter, Maximum illud, Pope Benedict XV affirmed that the Catholic faith “is foreign to no nation”. The letter also helped inspire the Council of Shanghai in 1924, where participants called for greater attention to the formation and development of Chinese clergy.

Archbishop Celso Costantini, the first apostolic delegate to China, played a central role in this process. He accompanied the six bishops-designate when they departed Shanghai for Rome on 10 September 1926.

The November 5 programme will examine both this historical development and its continuing significance.

Archbishop Celso Costantini, the first apostolic delegate to China, played a central role in this process. He accompanied the six bishops-designate when they departed Shanghai for Rome on 10 September 1926

Proceedings will begin at 10.30am with a welcome from Professor Andrea D’Auria, dean of the university’s Faculty of Canon Law. Jesuit Father Luciano Morra, director of the Pastoral Commission for China, will chair the morning session.

Alongside the addresses by Cardinal Parolin, Bishop Li and Cardinal Chow, the programme includes a screening of Teresa Tseng Kuang Yi’s documentary, A Long Journey: The Adventure of the Six Chinese Bishops Consecrated in Rome by Pius XI in 1926.

Professor Mario Luigi Grignani, dean of the Faculty of Missiology, will examine missionary developments under Benedict XV and Pius XI.

Dr Marta Zhao Nan, head of the Chinese-language edition of Fides, will chair the afternoon session. Bishop Ding will address participants, followed by presentations on the building of the local Church, the development of episcopal consecrations in China, their legal dimensions and historical records preserved in the archives of Propaganda Fide.

Speakers will include Professor Elisa Giunipero of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart; Professor Liu Guopeng of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta; and Monsignor Flavio Belluomini, archivist of the Dicastery for Evangelisation. Chinese songs will feature throughout the day.

Links across a century

The participation of the bishops of Beijing and Haimen gives the commemoration a contemporary dimension.

In 1998, two bishops from China invited by Pope John Paul II were unable to attend the Synod for Asia. In 2005, none of the four Chinese bishops invited by Pope Benedict XVI was able to travel to Rome.

Alongside the addresses by Cardinal Parolin, Bishop Li and Cardinal Chow, the programme includes a screening of Teresa Tseng Kuang Yi’s documentary, A Long Journey: The Adventure of the Six Chinese Bishops Consecrated in Rome by Pius XI in 1926

More recent encounters include the participation of Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Shanghai in the Urbaniana conference marking the centenary of the Council of Shanghai in May 2024.

For Bishop Ding, the anniversary also has a direct connection with his diocese. Consecrated in Nantong on October 15 at the age of 40, he became the 19th bishop ordained within the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and China.

Bishop Simon Zhu Kaimin from the Society of Jesus was Haimen’s first bishop, was one of the six consecrated in Rome in 1926. The apostolic vicariate had been established that August at Archbshop Costantini’s suggestion, specifically to place a new ecclesiastical jurisdiction under Chinese leadership.

Bishop Ding previously served as parish priest in Caojiazhen, known as “the Chinese Lisieux”, continuing another link with Bishop Zhu. During his European travels after the 1926 consecration, Zhu received a relic from the elder sister of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus in Lisieux. The relic is now venerated in Haimen’s cathedral.

Beijing also has close connections with the anniversary. Two of the six bishops—Bishop Philip Zhao Huaiyi and Bishop Melchior Sun Dezhen—were born and trained there. Bishop Zhao served as Costantini’s secretary, while Bishop Sun taught for 12 years at the capital’s minor seminary.

Bishop Li, ordained in 2007 with the apostolic mandate of Pope Benedict XVI and recognition from the civil authorities, will now join the commemoration in Rome—a gathering recalling both the emergence of a Chinese episcopate and its communion with the universal Church.