Regarding Archbishop Pang Maichen's request for a celebration of the Spring Festival, Xiong Sanba and other Western clergymen did not oppose it, although they felt that it was inconsistent with the Catholic tradition.

This is mainly because Father Matteo Ricci has always advocated that Catholicism should be combined with Confucianism in China, so Matteo Ricci considered himself a Western Confucian, adhered to the Confucian style, and maintained a tolerant attitude towards Chinese customs.

Under the influence of Matteo Ricci, many of the Catholics who developed in China continued traditional Chinese rituals, such as worshipping ancestors and Confucius.

This is also the reason for the disagreement between Matteo Ricci and Longhua people for a long time.

Before Archbishop Pommaison was born, the Jesuits in China under the leadership of Longhua denied the so-called Matteo Ricci rule, forbade Chinese believers to worship Confucius and ancestors, and forbade the use of Chinese "heaven" and "God" to refer to the only true God of Catholicism, thus completely nullifying Matteo Ricci's efforts to sinicize Catholicism during his lifetime. Some Matteo Ricci priests were also forced to leave Beijing or China, such as Guo Jujing, Jinnige and others.

Historically, this move has led to almost no effective development of Catholicism in China, and even regression.

My father-in-law himself does not believe in God, so how Catholicism develops in China and whether it has achievements or not is a matter of concern to him.

For his old man, whether it is Aliluya, Amitabha Buddha, Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable, or Angel Baby, they are just words in his mouth and do not mean anything.

However, the ass decides the head.

Pope Paul V, who was greedy for money, for his own political and family interests, even patted his head and canonized Gonggong Wei as the purple-clothed archbishop, established the Eastern Diocese, and granted His Majesty the Eastern Emperor the unsurpassed power of the favored slave church.

Then, if Gonggong Wei did not legally use his identity and power to make some achievements that satisfied Paul V, he would inevitably not be surnamed Wei.

If the father-in-law does not occupy the religious front, others will occupy it. It is better for the father-in-law to improve the ideological program, and then become bigger and stronger, and the culture will be lost.

Just as before the 17th century, Japan had always prided itself on the Han branch and regarded the Chinese dynasty as its descendant, and once China was invaded by foreign races, Japan had a legal basis to carry out the idea of "seizing the heirs of the concubines" to restore Chinese orthodoxy, and the Duke of Wei also regarded the current Eastern Diocese as the concubine of the Holy See, and if the Holy See and the Pope were corrupt and incompetent, then the Eastern Diocese would be qualified to replace it and become the orthodoxy of Catholicism.

Therefore, reform is inevitable.

Without reform, there is no way to become bigger and stronger.

Wei Gonggong wanted to strengthen the strength of the Eastern Diocese through the means of reform.

When the Ming Dynasty died at the hands of Manchuria, the insightful people of the Han people traveled to Japan one after another, asking Japan to send troops to restore China. (Historical facts)

When the Holy See was incompetent, the father-in-law also hoped that the insightful men of Rome would be able to travel to China, and asked His Excellency Pommelson to travel westward and purify the lost lambs of the West.

Therefore, when Gonggong Wei returned to Beijing and came to Nantang this time, he wanted to formally promote the reform of the sinification of Catholicism in his capacity as the archbishop of the Eastern Diocese, improve the status of the Eastern Diocese in the Holy See, and prepare for his old man's democratic candidacy for the Pope in the future.

Compared with this important goal, it is not worth mentioning to make some money to honor the old man.

...........

After expressing dissatisfaction with Nantang's failure to integrate into the Spring Festival, the most solemn festival of the Chinese, and accusing the Catholic Church in Beijing of obvious dogmatism, Wei Gonggong asked Father Xiong Sanba to immediately organize a meeting of priests, priests, and representatives of believers in Beijing, and "requested" Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao, and some other officials in the DPRK who had joined the church to attend the meeting.

The meeting was scheduled for three o'clock in the afternoon, which was three o'clock in the afternoon.

In view of the authority of the Purple Archbishop, the South Church immediately arranged the meeting hall in the auditorium used for small dispersion in accordance with the instructions of Archbishop Pommerson. The meeting was attended by 25 Western priests, 38 representatives of believers, and 5 Ming officials.

Cui Yingyuan, the bronze saint and the 100 households of Dongchang, led by Cui Yingyuan, a bronze saint appointed by Archbishop Pang Maichen, will write "Long live the great Wanli Emperor, long live, long live!" The banner was unfurled and hung high above the auditorium door.

Underneath there is a Latin script written by Father Xiong Sanba.

The Chinese characters are on the top and the Latin characters are on the bottom, which means that the predicate is primary and secondary.

Although there were not many people attending the meeting, considering the impact, Gonggong Wei specially asked Chen Mo to urgently order a large number of flower baskets to send to Nantang, which could add to the glory of the meeting.

My father-in-law didn't take into account the cold winter wax moon, and there were no greenhouses to raise flowers in these years, so how many flowers there were. Chen Mo, who received the task, could only lower his requirements when he made a difficulty, and in the end all the flowers he purchased were paper flowers, which could not be dyed because of the urgency, so all of them were white flowers.

The name of the congratulatory unit was written on white paper on each flower basket, and there was another mistake in the middle. Or because of the urgency of time, some of the congratulatory notes are really not what is written.

For example, "The Interior Supervisor wishes Archbishop Pang Maichen a Happy New Year!" "The Imperial Horse Warden congratulates Archbishop Pang Maichen on a prosperous business!" "Congratulations to Archbishop Pang Maichen for his blessings in the East China Sea!" Wait a minute.

There is no congratulatory message from a flower basket that can be related to this meeting.

Who can be blamed for this?

Blame him for his own father-in-law. If you don't explain things clearly, you come in the morning and have a meeting in the afternoon, who can give you a clear understanding?

Not to mention, these flower baskets are placed all the way to the auditorium along the entrance of the south hall, which is very neat and solemn to look at.

It is also in line with the topic of reform carried out at this meeting.

was busy outside, and the father-in-law inside also chatted with Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao very speculatively.

Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao were the best Chinese and Western professionals in this era, and they not only had amazing abilities in agriculture, mathematics, and water conservancy, but also had deep research in firearms.

Xu Guangqi himself built the most powerful firearms unit at that time during the Chongzhen period, but unfortunately encountered the "Wuqiao Mutiny" and lost all his previous efforts.

Li Zhizao is not only proficient in the Western calendar, astronomy and geography, but what is even more rare is that he is also an expert in cannon casting, and later John Tang followed him.

With such two people, how could Gonggong Wei not know. The reason why he is willing to devote his energy to Catholicism is that in addition to wanting to be the pope, he also wants to get all the resources related to the church.

During the conversation, Gonggong Wei slightly revealed that his Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau had developed a flintlock pistol, and simply drew a drawing for Xu and Li to see.

Wei Gonggong smiled silently and continued to do what he liked, not only showing his importance to Western science and technology and his own scientific and technological capabilities, but also extending an olive branch to Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao, inviting them to visit the Special Economic Zone in the south.

Wonderful Book House