For centuries, access to the people of China was difficult for the Catholic Church, because as a Church she did not recognize local Confucian customs of honouring deceased family members. To the Chinese, this was an ancient ritual; to the Holy See, it was a religious exercise which conflicted with Catholic dogma. As a result of this and its foreign origin, the Church encountered much resistance in China. Within month of his election, Pope Pius XII issued a dramatic change in policies. On December 8, 1939, the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of Faith issued at his request a new instruction by which Chinese customs were considered not superstitious, but an honourable way of showing esteem for one's relatives and therefore permitted by Catholic Christians. Within a short interval, in 1943, the Government of the Republic of China established diplomatic relations with the Holy See. The Papal decree changed the ecclesiastical situation in China in an almost revolutionary way. As the Church began to flourish, Pius elevated China's status within the Church, established a local ecclesiastical hierarchy, and received the Archbishop of Peking, Thomas Tien Ken-sin SVD, into the College of Cardinals.