Master Kong and Matteo Ricci

Staying on topic, the name "Confucius" is actually the Latinised rendering, by the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), of "Kong Fuzi" (孔夫子), or "Master Kong", used as a reverential title for the sage, whose real name was Kong Qiu.

Ricci was an enlightened Jesuit, who did not try to proselytise in the 'usual manner' employed by the Catholic Church in India and Southeast Asia.

The Portuguese Padroado do Oriente -- the "Patronage of the Orient", the Vatican-sanctioned exclusive jurisdiction for the State-sponsored Catholic Church of Portugal's missionary activities in Asia -- and its partners, the Society of Jesus, were always careful to respect Chinese culture, beliefs and traditions.

Rather than attempting to impose Catholic dogma on the Middle Kingdom, they sought to reconcile Christianity with Confucianism. Ricci even believed that these systems of morality were complementary to each other.

In contrast to what happened in Portuguese India, the Holy Inquisition was never active in Macau, nor in other areas under the influence of the Jesuits, such as Japan.

While I despise all religions, in general, and all ecclesiastical organisations, in particular, I must acknowledge and praise the work -- which was, strictly speaking, mostly non-religious in nature -- that the Jesuits performed in China during the 16th and 17th centuries.

They were the first Sinologists and the first to consistently attempt to bridge the cultural  divide between the West and the East, by abandoning not only the Eurocentric approach, but also the zeal to convert 'infidels' and 'heathens' (in order, of course, to 'save their souls'), which were both very much ingrained in Christian missionaries.
The Jesuits were humane, humble and civilised conduits for the spreading of Western science in China. 

The same cannot be said of the Franciscan and Dominican missionaries, under the patronage of the arrogant Spanish Crown, who tried to convert the 'natives' by the sword, if necessary.

India was a sad case, where the Padroado was tainted by the so-called 'secular clergy' and by the Franciscans, who unleashed ferocious waves of persecution on the local population.

Ricci's experiences in China were recorded in an Italian manuscript, translated into Latin by Nicolas Trigault, and published in 1615, under the short title De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu ("About Christian expeditions to China undertaken by the Society of Jesus"):