The Faithful attend Mass
at Beijing’s South Catholic
Church. Photos: CNS
An unexpected meeting of foreign ministers from China and the Vatican in Germany last week raised hopes of an improvement in relations between the two states sharing no diplomatic ties.
Talks between China’s Wang Yi and Archbishop Paul Gallagher at the Munich Security Conference on February 14 were the first held between the sides since Papal representative Archbishop Antonio Riberi was expelled in 1951.
Their historic discussion centred around agreeing to continue an “institutional, bi-lateral dialogue” to benefit the Church and Chinese people by bringing them closer together.
An unconvinced Dr Michael Kinsella, National Director of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Ireland, though says the landmark meeting changes nothing about Communist China’s continuing persecution of Christians.
“Every Communist regime throughout history has always sought the destruction of the Catholic Church, so why would China be any different?,” Dr Kinsella said.
“After every deal between the Church and Communists comes an ideological sinicisation, but it always ends in failure and results in more persecution.”
The outbreak of the coronavirus may be grabbing headlines, but it has not stopped China from cracking down on religion and even using the epidemic as an excuse to restrict religious practices.
Spread
Since the alarming spread of the virus from Wuhan province to 30 countries and territories worldwide, the Chinese government has enforced stricter sanctions on religious groups, organisations, meetings and functions.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) introduced new regulations on February 1 to oversee all aspects of religious activity in the country.
These administrative measures, containing six sections and 41 articles, are part of a five-year sinicisation plan by the Communist Party to establish state governance over religion.
Senior officials of the CCP are reportedly wary of the influence that ‘foreign religions’ have on its society and warns that all Catholics are required to follow a Chinese model of the Faith.
Dr Kinsella says these measures have been a long time coming and empowers the explicitly atheist CCP to further persecute Chinese Catholics.
“The Vatican knew several years out that some of the most extraordinarily repressive restrictions on religious freedom in human history would be imposed on people of every faith and creed within China this year,” he said of China’s latest religious sanctions.
“This makes the 2018 Sino-Vatican deal look all the more contemptable given that any deal reached would have to operate under these restrictions.”
China, which celebrated its’ Lunar New Year on January 25, the Year of the Rat, is aiming to clamp down on religious activity that may “subvert” its government by introducing tighter controls.
Article 5 of the policy states: “Religious organisations must adhere to the leadership of the CCP, adhere to the directives on religions in China, implementing the values of socialism.”
Additionally, “religious organ-isations”, reads Article 17, “must spread the principles and policies of the CCP, follow the leadership of the CCP, adhering to and following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics”.
“Without the approval of the religious affairs department of the people’s government, no activities can be carried out in the name of religious groups,” reads Article 34.
The other articles state that religious organisations “must establish a learning system” to train employees in aligning with CCP policies and also requires that government authorities be involved in the selection of religious officers and disputes.
The deal wasn’t just made with the Devil; it seems as if it was written by the Devil himself”
Dr Kinsella, whose objective with ACN Ireland is to support and promote the Church in countries where Catholics are suffering persecution or discrimination, compared the terms and conditions of the policy to doing a deal with the “Devil”.
“The deal wasn’t just made with the Devil; it seems as if it was written by the Devil himself,” he said of the rules imposed by China.
“Not only must every Chinese Catholic submit every facet of their loyalty, morality and behaviour in obedience to the CCP, but the Church itself ‘must spread the principles and policies of the Chinese Communist Party, educating religious personnel and religious citizens to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party’.”
***
Since the Communist Revolution in China in 1949, the Church had existed in full communion with Rome. The Communists attempted to expel Catholics, but many of them remained.
By 1957, the Communist regime created a state Church – the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) – loyal to the CCP and rejected the authority of the Vatican.
This drove many Catholics ‘underground’ to practice their Faith and for decades China has had two churches – the “official” state-backed Church and the “unofficial” underground Church which remained loyal to Rome.
The state-sanctioned CPCA appointed its own bishops chosen by government authorities without approval from the Vatican and named bishops to attend to ‘underground’ Catholics in China.
On September 22, 2018, a provisional agreement was announced between Beijing and Vatican officials seeking to resolve this dispute on the appointment of bishops aimed at unifying the ‘underground’ Church and the CPCA.
The terms of the agreement would enable the Pope to have the final say on the appointment of bishops in China and the Vatican would recognise seven bishops selected and appointed by the Chinese government.
However, the deal with China also includes an agreement by Pope Francis to recognise bishops appointed by the CCP and for ‘underground’ Catholics to register with the CCPA.
This has caused widespread confusion among Catholic leaders and faithful, who are concerned that this will expose those in the ‘underground’ Church to further repression from the CCP.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, former Archbishop of Hong Kong, reportedly described the agreement as “an incredible betrayal” while adding that “a Church enslaved by the government is no real Catholic Church”.
“You cannot compromise with the Chinese Communist Party,” he said on February 11. “They (CCP) want complete surrender.”
***
The ‘underground’ Church, according to Cardinal Zen, “is doomed to disappear” as older bishops are dying with no new bishops being appointed.
Although the full extent of the 2018 Simo-Vatican deal has still to be disclosed, Dr Kinsella says the arrangement does not bode well for anyone but the CCP themselves.
“The deal is absolute evil,” he said. “It’s unbelievable to think that the Catholic Church would agree to sign themselves up to essentially becoming agents of Communism.
“The CCP have got everything they wanted out of this deal and the Catholic Church in China has become a department of the government and part of the Communist regime.”
He continued: “In tandem with much wider socially repressive policies imposed by the Chinese Communist Party – including the implementation of the truly terrifying ‘Social Credit Score’ – the deal (from accounts provided by Chinese Catholics themselves) was not a good one for the Holy See or for Chinese Catholics.”
The ‘social credit score’ Dr Kinsella speaks of is a system designed by the CCP to reward good citizenship for people who call out “bad” or unlawful activity.
An example of this was in March 2019, when Chinese authorities in Guangzhou offered cash incentives to those who informed them of any ‘underground’ churches or “unofficial” places of worship.
According to ACN Ireland’s 2017-19 edition of the ‘Persecuted and Forgotten’ report, those with useful information would receive 100 yuan (€13) – rising to 10,000 yuan (€1,311) – for anyone who helped identify members of outlawed religious groups.
Priests in the eastern province of Zhejiang are banned from attending funeral prayers outside a religious place”
On the 2018 Simo-Vatican agreement, Dr Kinsella warned: “The deal also allows for the apocalyptic scenario of a Chinese Bishop, who must be pre-approved for selection by the Chinese Communist party, being made a Cardinal which then opens the possibility of an ecclesial agent of the Chinese Communist Party being electable as a Pope.”
Since the compromise, underground churches and clergy in China have been subjected to a coercive campaign to align them with the CPCA.
In November 2018, Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou was arrested for the fifth time in two years. He was reportedly held in isolation and subjected to indoctrination in Communist ideology for 10 to 15 days.
The following month, local authorities formally closed the Early Rain Covenant Church then arrested Pastor Wang-Yi and 160 Christians for “inciting subversion of state power” by practising their Faith.
In the Archdiocese of Fuzhou, over 100 churches have been closed down since August 2019. Catholic churches in the city of Fuqing were locked shut and surveillance cameras installed to keep out parishioners.
In the Mindong diocese, around five Catholics parishes resisting the CPCA were closed for not complying with ‘fire safety standards’.
Fuan pastor Fr Liu Guangpin, 71, was evicted from his residence and Saiqi parish priest Fr Huang Jintong, 50, was exiled from the city. In the same area, a retirement home run by the Little Sisters of Mercy and Charity was shut down.
The Suanfeng parish was also closed, but later reopened after a CPCA priest was appointed.
Other ‘underground’ priests have said they are forbidden to meet with each other and are subjected to constant harassment from government authorities.
Since the latest rules were put into force, priests in the eastern province of Zhejiang are banned from attending funeral prayers outside a religious place under the government’s Regulations on Religious Affairs.
“Priests are not attending religious ceremonies,” said Catholic priest Huang Jian of the Wenzhou Diocese.
“There would be penalties (if priests attended),” reported Father Guo of the Henan parish. “The punishment could even be closing the Church and cancelling the priest’s priesthood certificate.”
***
Dr Kinsella, who has covered religious persecution as a University College Dublin graduate and is an occasional lecturer in Ethics, Philosophy and Politics, says the treatment of Catholics in China has got worse since the 2018 accord.
“The reports unfortunately indicate that the persecution of Christians has increased since the deal,” he said.
“This is partly because it has provided the Communist Chinese government legal and diplomatic structures within, which their party policy of the eradication of Christianity can be pursued without any feasible diplomatic resort or political retort by the Holy See.”
He added: “Cardinal Zen predicted this tragedy would happen and has been emphatic in his condemnation of the deal by saying ‘they’re [sending] the flock into the mouths of the wolves. It’s an incredible betrayal; the consequences will be tragic and long-lasting.”
Some world leaders – such as Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen – have reportedly written to Pope Francis to express concerns over China’s “persecution of religion”, complaining that such actions constitute “abuses of power”.
A US government report on human rights in China released in January reaffirms that the persecution of Chinese Catholics has worsened in the past year.
The report, which covers the period from August 2018 to August 2019, read: “Local Chinese authorities subjected Catholic believers in China to increasing persecution by demolishing churches, removing crosses and continue to detain underground clergy.
The Church has a long history of entering into accords with nations…so long as Faith is not compromised”
“Scholars and international rights groups have described religious persecution in China over the last year to be of an intensity not seen since the Cultural Revolution,” the report said.
One of the report’s recommendations to Congress is for its’ members to advocate “the right of Catholics to be led by clergy who are selected and who conduct their ministry according to the standard called for by Catholic religious beliefs”.
The commission had been established by Congress in 2000, as China was set to enter the World
Trade Organization, to report on human rights in the country.
***
An estimated 12 million Catholics reside in China, with official statistics saying that six million of those are part of the state-sanctioned CPCA.
Dr Kinsella questioned the integrity of making such a compromise with the CCP, saying that the “Devil” always comes to collect. “Would St. Peter have brokered a deal with the Romans so that Roman officials could have pre-selected candidates for Bishops in exchange for restricting Christian persecution in those times?”, asked Dr Kinsella.
He continued: “Do we really think this would have lessened the ferocity of persecution against Christians?
“To anyone working in the area of Christian persecution – and who is aware of the long, tragic history of failed diplomatic deals that have catastrophically failed persecuted Christians – the questions are both rhetorical: ‘No’.
“There is no case in history where a Communist or Socialist government has ever held their end of the bargain because the eradication of Christianity, even if it means the genocide of Christians, is a core tenet of every Communist or Socialist programme.”
***
The Church has a long history of entering into accords with nations. In medieval times, they contended with the claim of kings to the right of selecting the bishops in their land.
St Augustine recognised that “making disciples of all nations” would require compromise, so the Vatican has been willing to make such agreements so long as the Faith is not compromised.
The concordat of 1801, signed by Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, aimed to bring an end to the conflict between French revolutionaries and the Church. Napoleon would select bishops and control Church finances in France. In return, Catholic clergy could return from exile.
This established a National Church which recognised the Pope, but under state control. Pope Leo XIII though would later advise a policy of rallying to the cause of the Republic.
Another example comes from the 1933 concordat with Germany, signed to protect the Catholic Church from National Socialism. The Nazis, however, quickly breached this agreement.
Several years later, Pope Pius XI wrote a letter to German Catholics urging them to resist the temptations of a “national religion”.
There are then the Church’s dealings with the Soviet Union during the Iron Curtain, where they pursued a minimalist policy of survival by agreeing not to criticise Communist governments.
Since then not a whole lot has changed, as the Vatican remains silent despite the increasing rate of Christian persecution in Communist China from the fallout of the 2018 accord.