Pope Leo XIV in his video message to the recent international conference on ‘The Face of the Universal Church in China’. (Photo from the Vatican News)
Citing that the Catholic faith embraces the differences and—wherever possible—the characteristics of individuals and peoples in every culture, Pope Leo XIV is urging Christians around the world to preserve unity amidst diversity and not through uniformity.
The pope sent a video message to the recent international conference on ‘The Face of the Universal Church in China: 100 Years Since the Consecration of the First Chinese Bishops’, which took place in Rome and was organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization’s Section for First Evangelization in collaboration with the Pontifical Urbaniana University.
In his message, Leo underscored that “the Church, which is born of mission and the first proclamation of the Gospel is happy to take on the characteristics and nuances of the people and nations among whom she is called to bear witness to Christ in charity.”
He recalled the first six Chinese Catholic bishops consecrated in modern times, sharing details on their journey from Shanghai to Rome to receive episcopal ordination in Saint Peter’s Basilica at the hands of Pope Pius XI in 1926.
“Their consecration was an event of great significance, not only for the journey of the Catholic Church in China but also for the universal Church,” he pointed out.
He mentioned Pope Benedict XV’s 1919 apostolic letter Maximum illud, which affirmed that the Church’s missionary work must not be confused with colonization or cultural imposition.
“The Gospel grows wherever it is sown through the grace of God, not through human strategies,” he noted.
At the first General Council of the Church in China—the Council of Shanghai in 1924—the Church expressed the urgent desire to entrust leadership of local communities to native-born Chinese priests and Bishops.
“It was necessary to initiate and foster that process in order to remain faithful to the very nature of the Church, whose unity is not uniformity but communion in diversity,” the first American pontiff explained.
“The Church lives among the peoples with friendship and sympathy for their hopes and noble aspirations,” he added.
Leo also noted that the six Chinese bishops consecrated in 1926 crossed the globe “to bear witness to the communion that blossoms from the faith of the Apostles,” in communion with the Bishop of Rome.
“It is a beautiful, gratuitous, and comforting sign; a liberating bond; a closeness that instills confidence; and above all, a manifestation of the mystery of the Mystical Body of Christ,” he said.
Pope Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, concluded his video message by recalling the “joy and pride” which the consecration of the six bishops kindled in Chinese Catholics, saying the event consigned “mistrust, suspicion, and hostility to oblivion.”
