What is a Chronology of the Chinese Missions? And of the Jesuits' Condemnation?

1. Nicholas IV {189th P.} (22 Feb. 1288 - 04 Apr. 1292) - the first Franciscan to become pope.
   He earned the title of missionary pope by sending (1289) Giovanni di Monte Corvino, a Franciscan friar, to the court of the great Kublai Khan (1260-94); this mission led to the first establishment of the Catholic church in China, where previously only Nestorians had been influential.
   
   
2. Clement V {193rd P.} in 1307, appointed Giovanni first archbishop of Peking.
   
   
3. Paul V {231st P.} (16 May 1605 - 28 Jan 1621) encouraged the missions, approving (June 27, 1615) the use of the vernacular in the liturgy in China.
   
   
4. Innocent X {234th P.} took a stand in the keen debate on the propriety of adapting certain traditional Chinese rituals in the mission field, approving a decree of the Propaganda (Sept. 12, 1645) condemning the practice.
   
   
5. Alexander VII {235th P.} (7 Apr. 1655 - 22 May 1667)
   1. By a decree of Mar. 23, 1656 he accepted the viewpoint of Jesuit missionaries in China, permitting the performance of certain indigenous rites as being effectively civil ceremonies, and (Sept. 9, 1659) relieved native Chinese clergy of the duty of reading the office in Latin.
   2. Alexander VII {235th P.} (7 Apr. 1655 - 22 May 1667)
      1. and Bl. Innocent XI {238th P.} both condemned 110 of the Jesuit casuists' propositions after Blaise Pascal's Provincial Letters.
      2. became involved in the controversy over "Probabilism", ie. the theory (supported by the Jesuits) that, where the propriety of an action is in doubt, it is lawful to follow a solidly probable opinion favouring it even when the case against it is more probable.
      3. he did not condemn Probabilism as such but, notwithstanding his partiality for Jesuits, formally condemned forty-five propositions savouring of laxity (Sept. 24, 1665 and Mar. 18, 1666)
   
   
   
6. Bl. Innocent XI {238th P.} With his moral earnestness, he had Jansenist leanings and was critical of the Jesuits; on Mar. 2, 1679, without naming the Probabilism prevalent in Jesuit circles, he condemned sixty-five laxist propositions savouring of it. Innocent endorsed "probabiliorism", ie. the view that in cases of doubt about the licitness of an action the opinion which seems more probable should be followed.
   
   
7. Clement XI {241st P.}
   1. 1704, Nov. 20: approving a sentence of the Holy Office, he ruled against the use by missionaries of Chinese rites, especially the cult of Confucius and ancestors.
   2. 1715, Mar. 19: he reiterated the ruling in the constitution Ex Illa Die putting an effective end to the Chinese Mission.
   3. These prohibitions led to the persecution of Chinese Christians and the closure of the missions; the prohibitions were finally lifted by Pius XII in 1939.
   
   
   
8. Innocent XIII {242nd P.} having had a deep aversion to the Jesuits was minded to suppress the order when he learned that its missionaries were not complying with Clement XI's ban on the Chinese rites. Instead he forbade it to receive novices unless within 3 years he had satisfactory proof of its obedience.
   
   
9. Clement XII {244th P.} (12 July 1730 - 8 Feb. 1740) renewed (Sept. 26, 1735) Clement XI's prohibition of Chinese rites and started a fresh inquiry into the whole issue.
   
   
10. Benedict XIV {245th P.}
    1. published in 1741 a Bull in which he described the Jesuits as "disobedient, contumacious, crafty, and reprobate men."
    2. by the Bull Ex quo singulari (July 11, 1742) he finally suppressed the Chinese rites - following it with the Bull Omnium sollicitudinum (Sept. 12, 1744) extending the ban, in milder terms, to Malabar rites in India.
    3. Ex quo singulari: "...we condemn and detest their practice as superstitious...we revoke, annul, abrogate and wish to be deprived of all force and effect, all and each of those permissions, and say and announce that they must be considered for ever to be annulled, null, invalid and without any force or power."
    
    
    
11. Clement XIII {246th P.} defended the Jesuits, reaffirming the position of the Society in his Bull Apostolicum pascendi of Jan. 7, 1765: "...using the plenitude of the Apostolic power...whose effect shall be perpetual...", but it had no effect; the following states expelled the Jesuits:
    1. Portugal in 1759;
    2. France in 1762;
    3. Spain, Naples, Sicily and from the Republics of Genoa and Venice in 1767;
    4. Malta, the Duchy of Parma, and the Kingdom of Naples in 1768;
    5. Paraguay 1769.
    
    
    
12. Clement XIV {247th P.} suppressed the Jesuits on Aug. 16, 1773 "perpetually" in his Bull Dominus ac Redemptor noster.
    
    
13. Pius VI {248th P.} In deference to the Bourbon courts, he tried to put pressure on Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine II of Russia, in whose domains many Jesuits had found refuge, to apply Clement XIV's brief of suppression; but he failed to persuade Catherine, who set up a noviciate for Jesuits in 1780. In 1783-4 he gave secret approval to the continued existence of Jesuits in Russia.
    
    
14. Pius VII {249th P.}, in Solicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum of Aug. 7, 1814, RESTORED THE JESUITS AFTER 40 YEARS OF "PERPETUAL" DISSOLUTION!!! Years earlier (1801 and 1804) he had regularised their existence in Russia and Naples. Cardinal Manning very much disliked them.
    
    
15. Pius XII {258th P.} 1939: The Sacred Congregation of Propaganda reversed Clement XI's decision on the Chinese rites.