In order to take back the powers over the missionaries from Spain and Portugal， Rome decided to use the Apostolic Vicari- ate system. The Apostolic delegate had the same power as the local bishop， but he acted on the Pope"s behalf and came under the leadership of the Congress of the Propagation of the Faith. In the turmoil of the power struggle， the French church decided to take Rome"s side out of its own interests. In 1663， the French church formed a missionary group (Foreign Missions)， its founder being Francois Pallu who came to Zhangshou， Fujian Provincein 1684. Calling himself the "Premier of China Church Affairs‘叨， he sent a pastoral letter to all the missionaries in China asking them to come before him to pledge their obedience to Rome in order to keep things in order. However， Pallu died that year and so the thing never went too far.
Rome continued its Apostolic delegate system. In 1693， itdecided to divide China into 12 regions with three distinct dio-ceses： Nanjing， Beijing and Macao. Guangdong and Guangxi belonged to Macao diocese； Jiangnan， Henan belonged to the Nanjing Diocese； Zhili， Shandong and Liaodong belonged to Beijing. The rest were Apostolic Vicariates： namely， Yunnan， Sichuan， Zhejiang， Jiangxi， Huguang， Shanxi， Shaanxi and Guizhou. The reason why Rome did this was， it was said， be- cause Emperor Kangxi had issued the Toleration Edict in the previous year， and the Vatican thought it was easier for the local churches to be managed if there were more dioceses added on tothe list.
While this was going on， the enculturation process was also taken place. China had its first Catholic bishop Luo Wencao (1616-1691)， a native of Fu"an， Fujian Province. He was bap- tized in 1633 and went to Nanjing and Beijing on missions with Li Andang. He joined the Dominicans in 1650 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1654 in Manila. During the years of Li Yu， he began to take on the responsibilities of church affairs in China and baptized over 2，000 converts. In 1674， Pope Clement X named Luo Wencao as the bishop of Basilica and the Apostolic delegate of Nanjing diocese. Because he stood on the Jesuit"s side during the China Rite Controversy， the Dominican Superior General Jia Delang， who was in the Philippines， refused to havehim consecrated. Later in 1685， Luo was ordained a bishop in Guangzhou by Bernardinus Della Chiesa (1642-1721)， a native of Italy.
Luo and Chiesa sought permission from Rome to allow the Chinese seminarians to be ordained， but failed. In 1688， Luo ordained three Chinese young men to the priesthood. When the China Rite Controversy became more and more severe， Luo wrote to the Congress of the Propagation of the Faith， warning them to be careful in dealing with the matter. He asked the Vatican not to forbid the Chinese rite， because this could cause harm to the church. In 1690， Luo was named the bishop of Nanjing. Be- cause of his tireless work， he became ill and died on February27， 1691.
Among the three ordained Chinese priests， Wu Yushan (1632-1718) was the most famous. He was a native of Changshu， Jiangsu Province and a famous painter. He was baptized around the year 1675 and his baptismal name was Simon Xavier. After his ordination in 1688， he went to Shanghai to preach the Gospel for about 30 years. He was very pious and left many poems de- scribing religions and the Christian missions. Dan Yuan Chang Nian Neng Jian Mu， Chao Wang Dong Nan Mu Xi Bei (I hope that I can do my ministry all year long， I go to the South-East inthe morning and go to the North-West in the evening)； Du Pu Du Pu Mou Chi Wu， Lai Chao Gu Bing Pu Xi Lu (Going across the Huang Pu River back and forth to do my ministry without delay；In the Future， when I get sick， I go to Pi Xi Road to visit doctors)？
He died in Shanghai in 1718 and was buried in the Jesuit cem- etery outside Our Lady"s Parish Church. He wrote Mo Jing Shi Chao， San Ba Ji and Mo Jing Ti Ba. Each book had one volume， later， some author wrote a five-volume Mo Jing Ji. Wu also left a book that was a collection of his homilies.
During the 17th and 18th Century， the Catholic Church in China enjoyed its most prosperous time. In 1701， there were 229 churches and 103 foreign missionaries with 300，000 registered Catholics. The enculturation movement gained some momen- tum， too. Luo Wencao was the first Catholic priest and bishop in history. Besides the Jesuits， other religious orders， such as the Dominicans， Franciscans and the Foreign Mission of Paris also sent their priests to China. Rome used the Apostolic Delegate system to control the Chinese work. Schall and Verbiest were the first group of Jesuits who developed Ricci"s Xue Shu Chuan Jiao (Conversion of the Intellectuals)？ While these missionaries equipped with scientific knowledge worked for the emperors，they also created a fairly good environment for the Catholic faithow.This led Emperor Kang Xi to issue his edict on toler o that this first group of missionaries obtained ofIicial per- ion to preach in China.