Celso Benigno Luigi Costantini

“Faced especially with the Chinese, I judged it appropriate in no way to accredit the suspicion that the Catholic religion seemed to be placed under the protection and, even worse, as a political instrument at the service of European nations. I wanted, from my first acts, to claim my freedom of action in the field of religious interests, by refusing to be accompanied before the local civil authorities by representatives of foreign nations.”