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March 8, 2014 |
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Catholic missionary priests from Europe are first recorded to have entered China in the 13th century. They had some success during the Mongol regime of the Yuan Dynasty but their influence gradually faded. During the Catholic Reformation|post-Reformation explosion of Catholic missionary efforts around the world, particularly in Asia, Jesuit missionaries attempted to enter China. They had mixed success at first, but eventually came to have a strong impact, particularly in inter-cultural scientific and artistic exchanges among the upper classes of China and the imperial court. (See Jesuit China missions for details) Since 1949, following the establishment of the People's Republic of China by the Chinese Communist Party, the status of Catholicism as a institution in Chinese society has been highly ambiguous. The Chinese government maintains that Chinese citizens' activities must not face interference or influence by external powers and demands that all Chinese "Catholics" must be loyal to the State. All worship must legally be conducted through State-approved churches, and though the CCP is a secular organisation it also reserves the right to appoint priests. Beijing does not differentiate between temporal and spiritual loyalty. A Catholic can be loyal to his/her own government, while still listen to the Pope's teachings on religion. Indeed a true Catholic must have ties with the Vatican, or else they are not really Catholic. This puts Chinese Catholics in a dilemma - they must either sever ties with Rome or worship in underground churches. Those who maintain links with Rome are subject to persecution and legal prosecution. Priests especially are targetted to try to destroy the underground church. Hong Kong and Macao Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong is a Catholic. Pope John Paul II was denied a visit (deemed "inappropriate") to Hong Kong in 1999, a decision many believe was made under pressure from the central PRC government. Diplomatic relations with the Vatican The issue of Foreign relations of the Vatican City|Sino-Vatican relations has been a highly contentious one and often difficult for both sides (see below). The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association is the sole approved Catholic organization for Chinese Catholics (except for those in Hong Kong and Macau, who recognise the Vatican). The Chinese language typically divides Christians into two groups, Tianzhu jiao, believers of Catholicism, and Jidu jiao, believers of Protestantism. The terms originate with different terms for God used in Chinese. The Catholic church historically favored Tianzhu (literally, Lord of Heaven) over Shangdi (literally, Sovereign Above), an alternate term used more commonly by Protestants. The current term for the Protestant denomination refers to the Mandarin Chinese translation of Christ, Jidu. (For full coverage see Chinese terms for God)
Category:Religion in China Category:Religion in the People's Republic of China Category:Roman Catholic Church in Asia category:Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong category:Roman Catholic Church in Macao fr:Catholicisme en Chine This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Catholicism in China".
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