The Chinese “have the virus of hope," Pope Francis said in a video interview broadcast by the Jesuits’ Chinese Province on August 9, 2024. The Holy Father also expressed his desire to visit a Marian shrine in Shanghai, China, and praised the Chinese people for their faithfulness.
The video was published on the YouTube channel of the Jesuits’ Chinese province and the interview was conducted in Spanish but includes subtitles in simplified Chinese, Taiwanese Chinese, Spanish, and English. The 15-minute interview, conducted by Father Pedro Chia, director of the Jesuit Communication Office of the Chinese Province, took place on May 24, the feast of Our Lady of Sheshan.
In the course of the discussion, the Pontiff stated that he "really wants" to go to China, in particular to visit the Marian shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Shanghai. He said that he has a statue of Our Lady of Sheshan, patron saint of China, on a shelf in his apartment at the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. He also expressed his desire to meet China's bishops and Catholics. (The statue is probably a gift from Cardinal Joseph Zen, who met with the Pope in 2023, and is said to have cried like a child when he saw that the Pope keeps the statue of Our Lady of Sheshan that he had given him.)
Apart from Pope Paul VI's visit to Hong Kong in 1970, which at the time was under British rule, no pope has ever visited China, a country that has no official diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
Pope Francis has repeatedly expressed his wish to visit the country, notably during his flight to Kazakhstan in 2022.
The faithfulness of Chinese people
The people of God in China “have gone through so much and have remained faithful,” the Pope said during the video-interview. He said he wanted to send them a message of hope, even though "it seems tautological to send a message of hope to a people who are masters at waiting; the Chinese are masters of patience, of waiting." They “have the virtue of hope, and it is a very beautiful thing,” he said.
"You are the descendants of a great people [...], don't waste this heritage, but pass it on with patience," the Pope exhorted all Chinese, especially those in the diaspora, referring to a group of Chinese he helped in Argentina.
As a good descendant of Italians, the Pope also recalls the "Marco Polo noodles," brought back from China by the Venetian explorer, with the success we all know.
Pope Francis then concluded with a blessing for the Chinese people: “Through the intercession of the Mother of Sheshan, on her feast day today, I give the blessing to the entire Chinese people, in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”
