Pope Francis Highlights 1924 Shanghai Council as Bishop Joseph Shen Bin Warns Against Colonial Patronage

Mgr Joseph Shen Bin, bishop of Shanghai, took part in an international conference on the Church in China held in Rome on 21 May, marking the centenary of the Shanghai Council.

“The development of the Church in China must be in step with today’s China”

Aleteia

In a message video broadcast during the conference, Pope Francis highlighted the importance of the 1924 council that brought together the bishops and apostolic prefects present in China at the time.

Aleteia

Mgr Shen Bin said the Church is « une » but its development in China must « aller de pair » with the « grande renaissance de la nation chinoise ».

He also cited the 1924 warning about the Church distancing itself from the « patronage » colonial of China, and he said that « le changement n’a pas été immédiat ni radical » because of strong resistance.

The conference was organized by the Pontifical Urbaniana University in collaboration with the agency Fides, and it focused on the challenges of today including the notion of « sinisation » des religions tied to the policy of President Xi Jinping.

Mgr Shen Bin contrasted the intention of cultural colonization by foreign missions with the official line of sinicization of Catholicism defended by President Xi Jinping, according to Aleteia.

Aleteia described Shen Bin as a key figure within the Church’s official faction, and it said he rose through ranks within the Patriotic Association and the Chinese Bishops' Conference, a body not recognized by the Holy See.

El Mundo

During the conference in Rome, the Secretary of State and the Bishop of Shanghai sat at the same table for more than an hour, with each respectfully applauding the other’s address, and they then warmly greeted each other.

Aleteia also said that in 2018 Rome and Beijing signed a historic agreement on the appointment of bishops, the first official exchange since Mao Zedong took power in 1954.

In the ZENIT account of the same centenary conference, Cardinal Parolin said communion with the Saint-Père is « la meilleure garantie d’une foi libérée des intérêts politiques externes ».

El Mundo’s profile of Shen'ao, a village in Zhejiang province, describes a neighborhood committee displaying statistics on the 11 living neighbors who have surpassed 100 years, with the oldest at 105.

“Mgr Joseph Shen Bin, évêque de Shanghai, a participé à la conférence internationale sur l’Église de Chine qui s’est tenue à Rome le 21 mai”

ZENIT

In Shen'ao, where a little over a thousand people live, El Mundo says the nonagenarians were born in 1931, 1933 or 1935 and that the youngest residents are the three police officers assigned to the village who rotate.

El Mundo links the village’s concentration of elderly people to a broader demographic challenge, stating that for the first time since records exist, China has more people over 65 than children.

It adds that projections indicate that by 2050 nearly a third of the population will belong to the 65-and-older group, and it reports that people between 15 and 59 years old represent 61.89% of the total population versus 67.33% a decade ago.

The same article says the number of births registered last year dropped to 7.92 million, a 17% decrease from 2024, while the government has tried to reverse the trend by relaxing the one-child policy and expanding incentives including free IVF treatments and parental leave.