''Ad Sinarum gentem'', issued on October 7, 1954, is an

encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

to the Chinese people on the super-nationality of the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

Background

The encyclical is written against the background of continued

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these ter ...

of Christians in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, the expulsion of foreign

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

, the jailing of domestic priests and lay people, and the attempts by the State to institute a national Chinese Catholic Church. Three years earlier, the Pope had issued the apostolic letter '' Cupimus Imprimis'' to the Chinese people, to express his "sympathy in your afflictions, but also to exhort you paternally to fulfil all the duties of the Christian religion with that resolute fidelity that sometimes demands heroic strength". "Since that time, the conditions of the Catholic Church have not improved. Accusations and calumnies against the Apostolic See, and those who keep themselves faithful to it, have increased. The Apostolic Nuncio has been expelled. Although the "great majority of Catholics have remained steadfast in the Faith, some adhered to dangerous movements from the enemies of all religion".''Ad Sinarum 'gentem'', 4

Message

The Pope warns against separation from Rome, defends the Church against accusations of undermining Chinese culture and society, and welcomes cultural differences in preaching and teaching. This pastoral flexibility cannot imply however, that the Church agrees to

political theology Political theology is a term which has been used in discussion of the ways in which theological concepts or ways of thinking relate to politics. The term ''political theology'' is often used to denote religious thought about political principled qu ...

or a specific Chinese Christianity.

Notes

References

External links

*
Ad Sinarum gentem
', full text of Pius XII's encyclical, 7 October 1954, on the Vatican website. {{Pope Pius XII Persecution of Catholics during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII Catholic Church in China Encyclicals of Pope Pius XII October 1954 events 1954 in Christianity