China on Wednesday asked Vatican to give up its plan to canonise 120 Chinese Catholic imperialists, executed during the Boxer Uprising in the 19th century, on October 1, the Communist nation's 51st national day. This act by the Vatican is extremely hurtful to the feelings of the Chinese people and to the dignity of the Chinese nation and absolutely will not be tolerated by the government and People of China, Foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told reporters. Urging Vatican to take concrete steps to improve relations, Sun cautioned that if the Vatican side was bent upon hurting the feelings of the Chinese people, the Chinese government and people will not sit idle. The 120 martyrs -- 87 Chinese and 33 missionaries -- were executed or killed between 1648 and 1930, mostly in the anti-foreign Boxer Uprising in the 19th century.
However, Sun said that most of them were punished for violating Chinese laws in the country's struggle against colonisers and imperialists.
“Thus, the canonisation amounted to distortion of history, beautification of the invasion of China by imperialists and slander of the peace-loving Chinese people,” He said.?
According to reports from Rome, Vatican plans to conduct the canonisation on October 1, a major Catholic festival but which is also the Chinese national day. Vatican said that the choice of date was purely religious because it was the feast of St Teresa of Lisieux, patroness of the missions.
Bureau Report