BEIJING (Reuters) - Four centuries after his Catholic mission to Beijing, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci has reached from beyond the grave to help forge links between the Vatican and the world's most populous country.
The Italian priest who introduced China to Western science and philosophy was the symbolic catalyst for an appeal from the Pope Wednesday to establish diplomatic ties between Beijing and the Vatican.
The Pontiff's overtures concluded a series of three seminars, in Hong Kong, Beijing and Rome, marking the 400th anniversary of the start of Ricci's mission to Beijing in 1601.
China still harbors deep resentment about links between Christian missionaries and European colonists and the Vatican accuses Beijing of persecuting Catholics who worship outside the state-controlled church.
But Ricci -- known as Li Madou in Chinese -- is remembered fondly by both as a unique bridge between West and East.
``Matteo Ricci, famous scholar of east and west, conscientious scientist, missionary of faith, is a symbol of China's first encounter with European sciences and technology,'' wrote He Guanghu, deputy director of the center for Christianity at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
``He influenced not only his own times but also the past 400 years and his influence will continue in the future,'' he said in a recent article carried by the Catholic news agency Fides.
CONVERTING THE ELITE
Ricci opened his first Catholic mission in south China in 1583 after visiting the Portuguese enclave of Macau.
He soon realized that to convert the Chinese, he must prove the superiority of Western culture to the bureaucratic elite by explaining the principles of Western mathematics, geography, science and philosophy.
Eventually reaching the Ming dynasty court in 1601, he is said to have attracted the Emperor Wan Li's interest by presenting him with two clocks.
The emperor asked him to stay near the Forbidden City to wind them and Ricci remained in the capital until his death in 1610.
He is famed as the first person to draw a map of the world for the Chinese and to translate books on western science, logic and philosophy into Chinese.
His translations of Chinese classics into Latin and colorful accounts of his own work gave Europeans unprecedented insight into Chinese culture and society.
He dressed as a Confucian scholar and expressed open admiration for China's highly ordered society.
But he was dogged by controversy over his tolerance of Chinese ancestor worship and Chinese translations of the word ''god'' which did not imply the Christian monotheistic concept.
THWARTED OVER ANCESTOR WORSHIP
His work was finally thwarted in the early 18th century when Pope Clement XI disagreed with acceptance of China's Confucian rites of ancestor worship.
Angered by the Catholic Church's stance, the Qing emperor Kangxi issued an edict of intolerance.
``On the one hand Rome sought to defend the absolute purity of Christianity and its body of doctrine; on the other, the government of the Qing dynasty was anxious to maintain political and ideological control over the Chinese popular tradition,'' wrote He Guanghu.
Four centuries on, the conflict between the authority of the Pope and Beijing's monopoly over the hearts and minds of its people still lies at the core of their estrangement.
Beijing wants the Vatican to switch diplomatic ties from Taiwan, which it regards as a rebel province, but it is wary of any challenge to the Communist Party's authority.
The Vatican wants to expand its following among China's 1.3 billion people, but is concerned by Beijing's restrictions on religious freedom.
And Ricci is still at the center of it all. His grave lies in the grounds of the former Communist Party School.