Matteo Ricci and the metaphor of the bridge between civilizations. Some critical remarks

In 1982, at the Macerata Conference commemorating the 400th anniversary of the arrival in China of Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) described the Italian missionary as “a veritable bridge between the two civilizations: European and Chinese.” Because of these eminent words, in the years that followed a considerable academic literature flourished, which tended to celebrate Ricci’s efforts to bring Western knowledge to the Middle Kingdom. To use modern epistemological categories, the Italian Jesuit’s labours can actually become a metaphor for a (cultural) bridge. However, anthropological theory, for example, would maintain that Christian missions were occasionally trying to undermine beliefs and practices with which they were coming into contact, supplanting them with the message they were bringing. There appears to be no doubt that Ricci established a connection between West and East. But was this actually the Jesuit Father’s real intention? This paper – through some critical remarks – attempts to pose (or to pose again) some questions, providing elements for constructive debate.