Ad Sinarum gentem
Pius XII7 October 1954
Encyclical of Pope Pius XII to the bishops, clergy and people of China, rejecting the “Three Autonomies” as applied to the Catholic Church. It is the Holy See’s own statement of why a self-governing national church cannot be Catholic.
The letter answers the movement for a Chinese Catholic church independent of Rome in government, finance and teaching. Pius XII grants that Chinese clergy should in time lead the church and that preaching should be adapted to Chinese culture. He denies that the church in any nation can govern itself apart from the pope, and says that those who adhere to the principles of the “Three Autonomies” cannot be considered Catholics. See the Chinese Church under the People’s Republic.
Cited in
- 1950 to 1954, firm date