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Congregation de Propaganda Fide8 December 1939

The instruction of 1939, approved by Pius XII, that allowed Catholics to be present at honours paid to Confucius and to bow before the dead as civil acts and dispensed priests from the oath on the Chinese rites required since 1742.

The instruction opens by saying that certain ceremonies in the East, though once connected with pagan rites, now keep only a civil meaning, as marks of respect for ancestors, love of country or courtesy, because customs and minds have changed in the course of centuries. Four points follow. Catholics may be present at acts of honour before the image or tablet of Confucius; his image or tablet may be placed in Catholic schools and saluted with a bow; Catholic officials and pupils ordered to attend public ceremonies may do so passively; and bows and other marks of civil respect before the dead, their images or a tablet bearing only their name are lawful.

It then dispenses all priests from the oath imposed by Ex quo singulari, while leaving in force the other provisions of Benedict XIV so far as later instructions have not changed them, above all the ban on disputing about the rites. Pius XII approved it in an audience of 7 December 1939. See the Chinese Rites Controversy.

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