The Catholic Church (, after the Chinese term for the Christian God) first appeared in China upon the arrival of John of Montecorvino in China proper during the Yuan dynasty; he was the first Catholic missionary in the country, and would become the first bishop of Khanbaliq (1271–1368).
The Jesuit Matteo Ricci was successful in Catholic missionary work in China. His approach viewed certain Confucian and Chinese folk practices as non-religious in nature and therefore compatible with Catholic practice. Other missionaries objected to this approach and after the hundred year long Chinese Rites controversy, the Vatican ordered the Jesuits to abandon the culturally accommodating approach Ricci had developed.
After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) won the Chinese Civil War, Catholic and Protestant missionaries were expelled from the country. In 1957, the CCP established the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) in Beijing, which rejects the authority of the Holy See and appoints its own preferential bishops. Catholics in the People's Republic of China are divided between the official CCPA and an underground church that which sees itself as loyal to the Holy See and refuses to recognize government-appointed bishops. In September 2018, China and the Holy See reached a provisional agreement giving the Pope the power to veto any bishop which the Chinese government recommends. The parties have extended the provisional agreement twice, most recently in October 2024.
Terminology
Terms used to refer to God in Chinese differ even among Christians.
Arriving in China during the Tang dynasty, the earliest Christian missionaries from the Church of the East referred to their religion as Jǐngjiào (景教, literally, "bright teaching"). Originally, some Catholic missionaries and scholars advanced the use of Shàngdì (上帝, literally, "The Emperor from Above"), as being more native to the Chinese language. Other Catholic missionaries coined the neologism Tiānzhǔ (天主, literally, "Lord of Heaven") which became the dominant usage. Within the Catholic Church, the term '' (公教, literally "universal teaching") is not uncommon, this being also the original meaning of the word "catholic". When Protestants arrived in China in the 19th century, they favored Shangdi over Tianzhu. Many Protestants use Shén (神), which generically means "god" or "spirit" (although Catholic priests are called shénfù (神父, literally "spiritual father")), or Yēhéhuá (耶和華, a transliteration of Jehovah). Meanwhile, the Mandarin Chinese translation of Jesus, used by all Christians, is Jīdū (基督).
Catholics and Protestants The modern Chinese language generally divides Christians into two groups: adherents of Catholicism, Tiānzhǔjiào (天主教), and adherents of Protestantism, Jīdūjiào (基督教) or Jīdū Xīnjiào (基督新教—"New Religion"). Chinese speakers see Catholicism and Protestantism as distinct religions. Thus, in Western languages, the term "Christianity" can subsume both Catholics and Protestants (i.e., Christians as opposed to, for example, Hindus or Jews). In Chinese, however, there is not a commonly used term that can subsume the two (but today in Chinese Catholic literature, the term "Jīdū zōngjiào" (基督宗教) is used to signify all Christian sects, as the term in Chinese means "religion of Christ"). Eastern Orthodoxy is called Dōngzhèngjiào (東正教), which is simply a literal translation of "Eastern Orthodox Religion" into Chinese.
Tang dynasty (618–690, 705–907) The Catholic Church first entered China during the cosmopolitan Tang dynasty era, although it had few native Chinese followers until the 16th century in the Ming dynasty.
Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
A series of reports about the Far East reached the Catholic West in the mid thirteenth century.
The Nestorian Christian and Turkic Chinese monk Rabban Bar Sauma (c. 1220–1294) travelled from China to Europe to meet Pope Nicholas IV. The long-present Church of the East had been the most geographically dispersed Christian church, but was by then in decline, and it may have suffered competition from the new Catholic missions and Islam: "controversies with the emissaries of .... Rome, and the progress of Mohammedanism, sapped the foundations of their ancient churches." The Catholics and Orthodox considered Nestorianism as heretical, though the so-called Nestorians mainly did not hold the particular beliefs attributed to Nestorius that had been anathematized. The expulsion of Christians by the Ming Dynasty seems to have ended the Church of the East in China. Also in the thirteenth century, Armenian King Hethum I, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, and William Rubruck visited Mongolia. In 1245, Pope Innocent IV sent a series of four missions to the Mongols. The first was led by the Dominican André de Longjumeau. Three other missions were sent between March and April 1245, led respectively by the Dominican Ascelin of Cremone (accompanied by Simon de Saint-Quentin, the Franciscan Lawrence of Portugal, and another Franciscan, John of Plano Carpini. Towards the end of the century Hayton of Corycus wrote about China and the Mongols. At the turn of the century, the Italian book The Travels of Marco Polo started being circulated in manuscript.
Missionary priests of the Latin Catholic Church in Europe are recorded to have entered China in the late 13th century, with the earliest being Franciscans. The Italian Franciscan priest John of Montecorvino arrived in the new capital Khanbaliq (modern-day Beijing) in 1294. In 1299 he built a church and in 1305 a second opposite the imperial palace. Having made a study of the local language, he began to translate the New Testament and the Psalms. Estimates of converts range from 6,000 to 30,000 by the year 1300.
In 1307 Pope Clement V sent seven Franciscan bishops to consecrate John of Montecorvino as Archbishop of Peking. The three who survived the journey did so in 1308 and succeeded each other as bishops at Zaiton, where John had established. In 1312 three more Franciscan bishops arrived from Rome to aid John until his death in 1328. He converted Armenians in China and Alans in Beijing to Catholicism. Armenians in Quanzhou were also Franciscan Catholics. The Franciscan Odoric of Pordenone visited China during this era. Caterina Vilioni's Catholic tombstone was found in Yangzhou.Rouleau, Francis A.. 1954. "The Yangchow Latin Tombstone as a Landmark of Medieval Christianity in China". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 17 (3/4). Harvard-Yenching Institute: 346–65. doi:10.2307/2718316. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2718316
The mission had some success during the rule of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, but various factors led to an ultimate shrinking of the mission. Six centuries later, however, John of Montecorvino's attempt at the translation of the Bible became the inspiration for another Franciscan, the Blessed Gabriele Allegra, to go to China and in 1968 complete the first translation of the Catholic Bible into the Chinese language, after a 40-year personal effort.
In 1338, representatives of the Great Khan (Toghon Temür) arrived in Europe inviting the Pope to send priests for the local Christians. Friar John of Marignolli and between fifty and one hundred fellow Franciscans were dispatched, arriving in Khanbaliq (Beijing) in 1342. This mission stayed with government encouragment until the Mongols were overthrown in around 1368 and the antagonistic Ming dynasty was installed. The last reported Franciscan being stoned by Buddhist monks in 1400.
Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Beginning in the 1450s, Catholic missions were administered through patronage rights (jus patronatus). Following the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, Pope Julius II granted Asia to Portugal's patronage (padroado). Portugal therefore obtained administrative authority over Catholic missions in China, including (1) the ability to appoint bishops and missionaries and build churches and (2) the responsibility to fund and protect missions. Portugal became engaged in a series of geopolitical struggles, including its incorporation into the Hapsburg Spain and its wars. Portugal was unable to effectively implement its patronage in east Asia.
The Propaganda Fide asserted the law of commissions (jus commisionis). The Propaganda Fide thus had the right to appoint apostolic vicars to function as the bishops of dioceses not yet established. Because of the simultaneous existence of the Propaganda Fide's rights and the patronage system, parts of China had church officials appointed under each power structure.
From Macau, Catholic missionaries arrived in Ming China in 1583. They were subject to accusations of espionage and witchcraft.
The permanent mission was established in 1601 by the efforts of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci. His whole approach was quite subtle, interesting the Wanli Emperor and the Ming Chinese authorities in aspects of western technology and learning as a point of opening. He also made attempts to reconcile Christianity with the Classic Confucian texts, though he was hostile, along with the other members of the Society of Jesus, to Taoism and Buddhism. Ricci's approach to missionary work respected Chinese culture, deeming certain Confucian and folk practices to be civil rather than religious in nature and therefore not inconsistent with Catholic practice.
Ricci died in 1610 but the Jesuit mission went on to become an important part of the Imperial civil service right into the 18th century. In 1644 a German Jesuit, Adam Schall von Bell, was appointed Director of the Board of Astronomy by the new Qing dynasty. Jesuits were also given posts as mechanics, musicians, painters, instrument makers, and in other areas that required technical expertise. Likewise, the development of Catholic Christianity in China originated an interesting process of cultural and artistic hybridization during early globalization and up to the present. An example of this is the Christian works of art made in the cloisonné technique.
Within 60 years after Ricci's death, the number of Catholics in China had grown to 300,000.
During this period, European countries competed for Catholic influence in China and the religion did not expand far into China. During the late Ming and early Qing era, Chinese Catholics began developing their own institutions without major foreign interference.
Qing dynasty (1644–1912) In the Qing dynasty, the Jesuits' pragmatic accommodation with Confucianism was later to lead to conflict with the Dominican friars, who came to Beijing from the Philippines in the middle of the century. Dominican leader Domingo Fernández Navarrete in responding to the question "Was Confucius saved?" said that since Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, and others were all damned "how much the more Confucius, who was not worthy to kiss their feet"? In responding, António de Gouveia, a Portuguese Jesuit, said that Confucius was certainly saved, "which is more than can be said for King Philip IV of Spain."Charles Ralph Boxer. Fidalgos in the Far East 1550–1770. Oxford University Press, 1968. Page 164.
While up to this point there had been debate among Western clergy as to whether to ordain Chinese men as priests, the debate was settled in 1654 when Luo Wenzao (also known as Gregory Lopez) was ordained a priest for the Dominican Order.