Matteo Ricci, The Grand Design, and the Disaster Of the ‘Rites Controversy’

The apology by Pope John Paul II for the past errors of the Catholic Church in its relations with China, and his appeal to Beijing to renew ties between the Vatican and the People’s Republic of China [SEE preceding article, page 47], come at a time in which the Pope is playing a crucial role in the campaign to build an ecumenical alliance among the nations of Europe and Asia, as the only alternative to the descent into depression and war now threatening mankind. He chose to make this historic call in the name of Father Matteo Ricci, the Jesuit missionary who opened the first sustained Christian mission in China in 1581. The Pope described Father Ricci as “a precious connecting link between West and East, between European Renaissance culture and Chinese culture, and between the ancient and magnificent Chinese civilization and the world of Europe.” As I shall briefly report here, Ricci’s role was not limited to his own lifetime; rather, his ideas have been at the center of every subsequent effort to build a true alliance between the people of Europe and those of Asia, based on the principle of reason. As Lyndon LaRouche said in his address to the Italian Institute for Asia, in Rome, on October 16 [SEE page 6, this issue], an effort to build a world alliance among sovereign nations can never succeed if it is based on the mutual acceptance of each other’s opinions, but only through a dialogue based upon a fundamental agreement on an idea—an idea of man as distinguished from the beasts through the cognitive power of reason. Ricci lived by this principle, which flourished in China until, a hundred years after Ricci’s death, a Venetian faction in the Church succeeded in turning the Vatican against his ideas. I shall review this dark page of history, known as the “Rites Controversy,” to help readers understand why Pope John Paul II felt it necessary to extend an apology in regard to certain “theological disputes.” It is most appropriate that this particular Pope, who profoundly understands the importance of his personal mission in the current crisis of civilization, reaches back to Ricci as the universal figure representing the dialogue of cultures so necessary today.