This week the Vatican appears to be renewing its efforts to remain onside with the Chinese authorities.
Two top officials are poised to speak at a presentation on 20 June at Rome's Pontifical Urban University about a key figure in the development of the Catholic Church in China, and which will commemorate the 1924 Council of Shanghai that was a key event in building diplomatic relations between the Vatican and mainland China.
Vatican Secretary of State Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin will head a presentation on the book Cardinal Celso Costantini and China – A Builder of a Bridge between East and West, written by Monsignor Bruno Fabio Pighin, a historian in the postulation of Costantini’s cause of beatification and canonisation.
Costantini served as the Vatican’s apostolic delegate to China from 1922 until his departure in 1933. He had a key role in convoking the 1924 Council of Shanghai, which marked an unprecedented coming together of top officials from the Vatican and mainland China.
