Ex quo singulari
With the bull Ex quo singulari of July 11, 1742, Pope Benedict XIV affirmed the ban on certain indigenous rites in the Empire of China and Hindu rites in India .
Local rites
The missionary Jesuits in Asia , but especially in China, followed the method of accommodation in their missionary work . H. an extensive adaptation to the national customs and rites. They supported u. a. the opinion that the Chinese converted to Christianity should keep their traditional rites and forms. In China this mainly concerned rites in the worship of Confucius and ancestors .
“The Jesuits tolerated, at least for the time being, the veneration of the sage and statesman Confucius and his ancestors as a bourgeois-political custom. The Chinese names Tien (heaven) and Shangti (supreme lord, emperor) were used as names of God, certain ceremonies at baptism and the last unction were omitted, etc. "
The same law should also apply to the Indian mission areas, where Indian customs were aligned with Catholic rites and Indian scriptures were used in the church .
Accommodation or rites dispute
However, this position was not shared by all Jesuits and met with opposition from missionaries from the Franciscan and Dominican orders. The Roman stance in the resulting dispute about accommodation or rites tended to one and the other position, but eventually settled on a rejection of the rites, which did not prevent the Jesuits in China from sticking to their previous practice until Pope Benedict in his bull enforced her submission and thus ended the dispute. He demanded adherence to the traditional Roman diction , which included, for example, that the term “God” should not be equated with the choice of words “heaven” or “supreme ruler”. All missionaries who were sent to the Far Eastern mission areas had to take an oath in which they pledged to comply with these rules. The accommodation method was thus prohibited.
Prohibition of Christianity in China
The instructions issued in 1693, 1704 and 1715 and the ban on Chinese rites caused Emperor Yongzheng to ban Christianity as early as 1724. His son and successor Qianlong was also hostile to the missionary work. The missionary work of the Jesuits had thus failed.