Description:
Papal documents related to the Catholic Church in China repeatedly confirm the love of the Roman Church and its respect for the Chinese people, their Millenary culture and traditions. They also manifest the deep concerns of all the popes for the Catholics in China, their long suffering and loyalty to the Holy See. They furthermore reveal the Church’s yearning to be able to deal with the Catholics in China and its hierarchy in the same way as it deals with them everywhere else in the world. Papal addresses repeatedly make an earnest plea to China’s leaders for the faithful to be able to enjoy their basic right to freedom of conscience, religion and worship.
 
Papal Documents Related to China 1937-2005 is the fruit of nearly 25 years of intermittent research by Elmer Wurth, MM. This compilation of materials reveals the dramatic evolution over the years in the popes’ thinking and their use of language to speak about the China Church. It is a revised and expanded edition of an earlier volume published jointly by the Holy Spirit Study Centre, Hong Kong and Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, in 1985.
 
The revised text is divided into two parts. Part I contains the statements of Pius XI in 1937 and successive popes up to John Paul I. Part II is a collection of all statements made by John Paul II during his long pontificate, from 1979 until his death in 2005.
 
We hope that this collection of documents along with their commentaries will be of service to all interested in the Church in China. We also hope that the readers will be moved by the efforts of the Church to reach out constantly to China, and with sincere good will explore every possible avenue for dialogue and reconciliation.
 
Author : Elmer Wurth
Publisher : Holy Spirit Study Centre
Pages : 436
Publication Date : 2006
ISBN : 9789628636792
No. 2115100010