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The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris ((フランス語:Société des Missions étrangères de Paris), short M.E.P.) is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons dedicated to missionary work in foreign lands.〔(''Asia in the Making of Europe'', p.231 )〕 The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris was established 1658-63. In 1659, the instructions for the establishment of the Paris Foreign Missions Society were given by Rome's Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, and marked the creation of a missionary institution that did not depend on the control of the traditional missionary and colonial powers of Spain or Portugal.〔Missions, p.3〕 In the 350 years since its foundation, the institution has sent more than 4.200 missionary priests to Asia and North America, with the mission of adapting to local customs, establishing a native clergy, and keeping close contacts with Rome.〔Missions, p.4〕 In the 19th century, the local persecutions of missionary priests of the Paris Foreign Missions Society was often a pretext for French military intervention in Asia.〔Missions, p.5〕 In Vietnam, the persecutions were used by the French government to justify the armed interventions of Jean-Baptiste Cécille and Rigault de Genouilly. In China, the murder of Father Auguste Chapdelaine became the ''casus belli'' for the French involvement in the Second Opium War in 1856. In Korea, persecutions were used to justify the 1866 French campaign against Korea. Today, the Paris Foreign Missions Society remains an active institution in the evangelization of Asia. == Background == The traditional colonial powers of Spain and Portugal had initially received from the Pope an exclusive agreement to evangelize conquered lands, a system known as ''Padroado Real'' in Portuguese and ''Patronato real'' in Spanish. After some time however, Rome grew dissatisfied with the ''Padroado'' system, due to its limited means, strong involvement with politics, and dependence on the kings of Spain and Portugal for any decision.〔Mantienne, p.22〕 From a territorial standpoint also, Portugal had been losing ground against the new colonial powers of England and the Dutch Republic, meaning that it was becoming less capable of evangelizing new territories.〔''Les Missions étrangères'', p.30〕 In territories that it used to control, Portugal had seen some disasters; for instance, Japanese Christianity was eradicated from around 1620.〔''Les Missions Etrangères, p.25〕 Finally, Roman officials had doubts about the efficacy of religious orders, such as the Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits or Barnabites, since they were highly vulnerable in case of persecutions. They did not seem able to develop local clergy, who would be less vulnerable to state persecution.〔 Sending bishops to develop a strong local clergy seemed to be the solution to achieve future expansion:〔 As early as 1622 Pope Gregory XV, wishing to take back control of the missionary efforts, had established the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (''Congregatio de Propaganda Fide'', commonly known as ''Propaganda'') with the objective of bringing to the Catholic faith non-Catholic Christians (Protestants, Oriental Christians), but also inhabitants of the American continent and Asia.〔 In order to do so, Rome resurrected the system of Apostolic vicars, who would report directly to Rome in their missionary efforts, and would be responsible to create a native clergy.〔Mantienne, p.23〕 On the field, violent conflicts would erupt between the ''Padroado'' and the ''Propaganda'' during the 17th and 18th centuries〔 (when the first missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions Society left for the Far East, the Portuguese had orders to capture them and send them to Lisbon).〔(Asia in the Making of Europe, p.232 )〕 The creation of the Paris Foreign Missions Society was well-aligned with Rome's efforts to at develop the role of the ''Propaganda''.〔Mantienne, p.26〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Paris Foreign Missions Society」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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