Next year will be fourth centennial anniversary of the death of Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary who travelled to China. He was one of the greatest evangelizers of Christianity in China. He opened the way to the inculturation of the Christian message in Chinese society and brought about a great cultural transcendence by means of dialogue between the Oriental and Occidental worlds.

For this reason, the Vatican has presented a documentary called Mateo Ricci, a Jesuit in the Dragon’s Kingdom, which illustrates the life of this missionary to the Orient.

This 60-minute movie, filmed in both Italy and China, relied on the sponsorship of the Society of Jesus and the Italian diocese of Macerata, the birthplace of Mateo Ricci.

Gjon Kolndrekaj, director of the documentary, obtained permission from the Chinese government to freely enter their country and get footage of such places as the Forbidden City. He is the first director to have been granted such permission. Kolndrejak explained what interested him in Ricci:

“Because he fascinated me as a person: first as a man, secondly as a man of faith and this insight and knowledge that he wanted to transmit, his magnanimity that all men of goodwill can have.”

In commemoration of Mateo Ricci’s anniversary, Benedict XVI sent out a message praising the legacy of this Jesuit, saying that Ricci “continues to be, to this day, a model of the value of dialogue between the European and Chinese civilizations.”

“He went as a witness to bring our faith to people who knew nothing about it, but furthermore, he allowed Europe to get to know the Chinese people as well. This is extraordinary as it signifies that this interaction has been created thanks to his logistical capacities. That is why I believe a figure like him will be remembered for generations to come.”