On November 29th, 1950, Wang Liangzuo and 500 other Catho- lics from Guangyuan County, Sichuan Province issued a Three- Self"s Patriotic Declaration, which indicated the beginning of the Anti-Imperialist Movement within the Church. This declaration called on all Chinese Catholics to cut any connections with the imperialists who tried to divide China in order to build up a church that was self-administering, self-supporting and self-propagat- ing. This greatly influenced many Catholics. Many others, such as the priests and laity in Chongqing, Nanchang, Wuhan and Nanjing, issued similar declarations. In January 1950, Tianjin established a "Progressive Planning committee for the Tianjin Catholic Reform Movement‘? This very action was highly praised and supported by the communist Party and the government, as well the whole nation. By the end of January 1951, the number of the Catholics who supported this movement included 10 Bish- ops, Auxiliary Bishops and Vicar Generals, 186 priests, 46 semi-narians and more than400,000 lay people. They covered more than 53 re- gions, such as Kunming, Guilin, Guangzhou, Linchuang, Hangzhou, Baoding, Kaifeng, Qingdao, Zhang Jiakou, Jinan, Taiyuan, Tianshui,Fushun and Hainan. On January 17th 1951, many Catholics from northern China were invited by the Education committee of the Government"s Political Affairs Bureau to attend a meeting. Pre- mier Zhou Enlai gave a talk in which he supported the Catholics‘ Patriotic Movement and encouraged all Catholics to build up a local Church.
While anti-imperialism sentiment and patriotism were spreading wide, Riberi and others began to distribute documents on the anti-patriotic movement through the committee of China Catholic Affairs. They emphasized Catholicity and the univer- sality of the Catholic Church beyond the boundaries of politics and nationalities. They criticized the people who started the pa- triotic movement as heretics who were disobeying doctrines andrules of the Church. Riberi wrote to all Chinese bishops and criti- cized the patriotic declaration made by Nanjing Catholics be- cause they were being used by others. In April of 1951, he wrote another letter threatening that those who tried to overturn the Catholic authority either directly or indirectly would be disci- plined by the Church. He also sent some of his own people to Beijing, Sichuan and other places to prevent Catholics from be- coming part of the patriotic movement.
Riberi"s actions appeared to be politically oriented, which amounted to interference in China"s internal affairs and its au- tonomy. Many Catholics became angry with him and criticized his actions, and began demanding the government expel him. On September 4th 1951, the Nanjing Military committee an- nounced Riberi"s expulsion. On June 6th 1951, the Shanghai Military committee did away with the committee of China Catholic Affairs formed by Hua Lizhu; on July 13th, the Tianjin Military committee did away with the Legion of Mary formed by Ribeiri there in August 1948.
Facing the dramatically political and social changes inChina, Pope Pius XII issued a pronouncement on January 18th1952 describing the expulsion of the missionaries as religious persecution and urging Catholics to remain loyal to Rome. OnOctober 7th 1954, he again issued an encyclical Ad Sinarum Gentem in which he criticized the Chinese government for in- terfering with religious freedom, as well as criticizing the Three- Self-Movement. He threatened those Chinese Catholics who par- ticipated in Anti-Imperialism and Nationalism Movements with excommunication, while praising those who resisted participat- ing in those movements.
This encyclical brought conflicts to the Chinese Catholic Church. Some lay Catholics were either excommunicated or denied communion for their actions against the clergy. Some clergy, under the leadership of Gong Pingmei, the bishop of Shanghai, were thrilled to hear about the encyclical and began to resist government control more aggressively. They called New China a "Dark World‘ and the socialist policy as a "Cat and Dog policy’ (i.e. socially divisive)? Their intention was to resist China"s land reform program and destroy the socialist construction, as well as resisting the people"s government"s policy. On Septem- ber 8th 1955, Gong Pingmei was arrested and his anti-revolu- tionary group was destroyed. Soon after, numerous cases, such as spying and anti-revolution activities in which Catholics were involved were discovered and many Catholics began to expose the activities of imperialists taking advantage of the CatholicChurch. Overall, there were more than one million Catholics involved in the patriotic movement.
As the patriotic movement became more aggressive, many cities established Catholic Patriotic Associations, such as Tangshan, Guanxhou, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, Beijing, Shanghai and Nanchang. By 1956, more than 200 local associations had been established. During the second meeting of the Chinese People"s Political Consultative committee in 1956, chaired by Xi Zhongxun, Secretary General of the State Council, some Catholic members proposed the establishment of the National Patriotic Association. In July, the Lay Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association Planning committee held its first meeting in Beijing. This gained support from many Catholics, as well the highest Catholic clergy in China. In November 1956, Pi Sushi (1897-1978), archbishop of Shenyang, claimed that he would give all he had to support the proposal after learning of the work the planning committee had done.
