The Irish standard., 1899-08-26
The REMARKABLE POLICY OF PEKIN
Rapid Increase of Conversions
To the True Faith.
A BEsTowAL OF ROYAL RECOGNITION
Protestant Missionaries are not
Quite so Popular.

Quite so Popular.
One of the most important Catholic
events of late happening was the action
of the Chinese government in issuing
an edict which gave at once royal recog-
milton and official status to Catholic
missionaries in the celestial kingdom,
says writer in the Boston Republic.
This edict was, of course, very crafty
ing to the representatives of the Cath
olic church in China; it was especially
pleasing to the Holy Father and his ad-
visers in the Eternal City, but it was far
otherwise received by the various Pro-
testant denominations which maintain
missions and mission workers in Far
Cathay. The Catholic church in China,
although it may not yet be as strong as
it was in the days when China had a
hierarchy of its own, is still very re-
spectacle body of faithful. In China
proper there are no less than thirty
eight vicariates apostolic and two pre-
lectures, while in Birma, Siam, Cochin
China and Tonquin, which are all peo-
pied largely by Chinese, there are four
teen other vicariates, making, so to say,
six different ecclesiastic districts in
China. In every one of the many prov
inces into which China is divided there
are priests to be found, sisters acting as
teachers, and a native Catholic popula-
ton which in some instances mounts up
into the 10000 or 10000 or even higher
figures. There are provinces where the
Catholic population is so large that two,
three and sometimes four vicars-apos-
tolic are needed to look after the church
and its interests in that particular prov
ince. That is the case in the provinces
of Kiangsi, Tchely, Sutchuen and one
or two others. OF course the prelates
and priests in these Chinese missions
have to depend almost entirely upon the
Society for the Propagation OF the Faith
for their support, and in the annual re-
port of expenditures which that admir-
able society makes, the Chinese districts
and the several sums allotted to them
for their support always make quite a
showing.
The action of the Chinese government
in sanctioning Catl1olicity in China was
all the more pleasant to the priests aid
prelatcs out there because it was unex-
pected by them. The first tidings of the
governments action was sent from Pc
kin by Monsignor Favier, who has
charge as vicar-apostolic of the district
in which the Chinese capital is located,
and who, in writing to the Association
for the Propagation of the Faith, not
only conveyed the grateful information
regarding the government and its unex-
pected action, but also forwarded the
full text OF the imperial decree. As that
decree is of great Importance and is
probably destined to have great influ-
ence in determining China's future pol
icy in matters of religion, no apology
is needed for reproducing it. The de-
cree announces itself to be "state-
ment OF the relations existing between
the local authorities and the Catholic
clergy, presented to the throne by his
royal highness the prince and their ex-
cellencies the ministers of the council
OF foreign affairs, the fourth day OF the
second moon OF the twenty-fifth years
Konangsin," which in our calendar is
March IS, 1899, and on the same day
that the decree was enacted, royal
publication announced that the resolu-
tions contained in it must be adopted by
all the civic authorities. The decree
itself, as we find it given in the latest
issue OF the Annals of the Propagation
of the Faith, was as follows:
"The imperial government having for
long time authorized the propagation
of the Catholic religion, and Catholic
churches having, in consequence, been
established in all provinces of China, we
are desirous to see our people and the
Christians live in harmony; to insure
reader protection, it has been agreed
that the local authorities shall exchange
visits with missionaries according to the
conditions specified in the following
articles: I. In the ecclesiastical hier-
archy bishops shall be entitled to the
same rank and dignity as viceroys and
governors, and shall be privileged to in
terview viceroys and governors. In
case bishop is called away or dies, the
priest in charge shall be privileged t.
interview the viceroy and governor,