A study of the Apostolic Delegate Celso Costantini’s view of China

ABSTRACT Celso Costantini was an important figure in the history of Chinese Catholicism in the early twentieth century and played a key role in the indigenisation of the Chinese Catholic church. As the Archbishop of the Chinese Catholic Church and the Apostolic Delegate to China, Celso Costantini had a number of insights into the Chinese nation and its traditional culture, the present and future of the Chinese Church, the relationship between church and state, among other things, that were the internal reason for his promotion of indigenisation. Understanding Celso Costantini’s view of China helps to explain why and how he pursued the Sinicization of Catholicism, to better understand the development of Catholicism in China, also to interpret the new challenges faced by Christianity in the early 20th century and its countermeasures.