| Ad Sinarum gentem | |
| Language: | Latin |
| Translation: | To the people of China |
| Date: | 7 October 1954 |
| Pope: | Pius XII |
| Before: | Ecclesiae fastos |
| Number: | 29 of 41 |
| After: | Ad Caeli Reginam |
| Web En: | http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_07101954_ad-sinarum-gentem.html |
| Web La: | http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/la/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_07101954_ad-sinarum-gentem.html |
Ad Sinarum gentem, issued on October 7, 1954, is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII to the Chinese people on the super-nationality of the Church.
The encyclical is written against the background of continued persecution of Christians in the People's Republic of China, the expulsion of foreign missionaries, the jailing of domestic priests and lay people, and the attempts by the State to institute a national Chinese Catholic Church. Three years earlier, the Pope had issued the apostolic letter Cupimus Imprimis [1] to the Chinese people, to express his "sympathy in your afflictions, but also to exhort you paternally to fulfil all the duties of the Christian religion with that resolute fidelity that sometimes demands heroic strength".[2] "Since that time, the conditions of the Catholic Church have not improved. Accusations and calumnies against the Apostolic See, and those who keep themselves faithful to it, have increased. The Apostolic Nuncio has been expelled. Although the "great majority of Catholics have remained steadfast in the Faith, some adhered to dangerous movements from the enemies of all religion".[3]
The Pope warns against separation from Rome, defends the Church against accusations of undermining Chinese culture and society, and welcomes cultural differences in preaching and teaching.
This pastoral flexibility cannot imply however, that the Church agrees to political theology or a specific Chinese Christianity.