Publication details
Vzťah katolíkov a čínskej vlády vo svetle mariánskej púte na horu Sheshan
| Title in English | The relationship of Catholics and the Chinese government in light of the Marian pilgrimage to Sheshan Mountain |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The presented research is based on the field work data collected during Catholic pilgrimage to the Basilica of Sheshan in Shanghai in 2018 and 2019. In the last two years, Chinese Catholics have faced two major changes. The first was the Religious Affairs Regulation, which was enforced in early 2018. This amendment brought several restrictions and stronger control. The second major change was a ned Sino-Vatican provisional agreement, which was signed in 22 September 2018. Only a few days after the signing of the agreement, Pope Francis addressed a letter to Catholics in China, where he explained the motives for signing the agreement. He also asked Chinese Catholics to be "good citizens". He even appealed to the unofficial underground bishops to resign from their positions in favour of candidates elected and approved by the CCP. However, the Vatican later issued a supplementary report stating that such a connection should be on a voluntary basis only. These changes have an impact on Catholics belonging to the Patriotic Association as well as unofficial underground believers. These two groups are interconnected by the annual Marian pilgrimage to Sheshan Mountain, which is attended by believers from both groups. Based on the collected data, we can reflect the above mentioned changes and compare them with the differences within this Marian pilgrimage. The pilgrimage to the Sheshan Basilica becomes a space of negotiation between Catholics and state power. Indeed, we can observe the efforts of the government to control this kind of religious activity, for example, in 2019, the religious symbols associated with the pilgrimage were exhibited to a much lesser extent than in the previous year. However, the results of the comparison reveal that, despite many state constraints, Catholics are still meeting in large numbers on this May pilgrimage and are willing to cover long distances to reach it. |
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