Discussion on the Church in China
The Benedictine Commission on China 2025 was held on 15 March at Sant’Anselmo. This year’s meeting saw the highest number of participants in recent years, including notable figures such as Abbot President Javier Aparicio of the Saint Ottilien Congregation, Abbot President Bernard Lorent of the Alliance Inter-Monastères, Abbot Blasio Park of Waegwan Abbey, Mother Prioress General Rosann Ocken of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing Congregation, and Mother Abbess Ildefonsa Paluzzi of Monastero San Giovanni Battista di Roma, among others.
In addition to the on-site attendees, there were online participants, such as Abbot General Bernardus Peters, OCSO, and representatives from the Olivetan Benedictine Sisters of Busan, South Korea. In total, 19 participants were present in person, and four joined remotely.
The meeting began in the morning with an opening address by Abbot Primate Jeremias Schroeder, followed by participant introductions. The first session focused on updates and reports regarding participants’ communities’ engagements with China.
Later in the morning, two guests from the Dicastery for Evangelization, Fr. Pietro Murrali from the China Desk and Fr. Luciano Morra, SJ, from the Pastoral Commission, joined the meeting. They gave presentations on their work related to China and answered questions.
The session concluded before midday prayer at Sant’Anselmo, followed by a shared lunch in the refectory.
In the afternoon, an additional ten Chinese participants joined the meeting, including priests, seminarians, religious studying in Rome, and one layperson.
The session featured a keynote presentation by Fr. Prior Norbert Du of Holy Cross Abbey in Jilin, China, who provided an analytical report on the Church in China and proposed future development perspectives. His presentation was followed by an open discussion and Q&A, marking the first time in BCC history that a large number of Chinese nationals participated directly in the discussion.
It is also worth noting that this year’s meeting introduced an AI-powered live-text translation system, which significantly enhanced accessibility and mutual understanding among participants who spoke English, German, Italian, Korean and Chinese as their native languages.
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