首任宗座駐華代表剛恆毅總主教(後陞為樞機)到中國之初洞悉中國為文化古國，若不在思想上先讓人心服，便無法發揮福傳功能，而當時教會在中國雖有三百年歷史，卻都由傳教士主持，因此無法落地生根。 When Archbishop Costantini arrived in China as the First Apostolic Delegate to the country, he was already aware that evangelization to people of this nation of splendid ancient civilization could not be easily done without wisdom and true conviction. Though foreign missionaries had been carrying out their evangelization work in China for over three hundred years, Christianity never took root in the country.