The Chinese Community Party has tightened ideological control, surveillance and travel restrictions on China’s 12 million Catholics, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch, as authorities wage a pressure campaign to get underground Catholic communities to join the state-controlled official church.
Chinese authorities have pressured underground Catholic communities to join the government-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association by “arbitrarily detaining, forcibly disappearing, torturing,” and subjecting underground Catholic bishops and priests to house arrest, according to the report, which relies on interviews with people outside of China who have firsthand knowledge of Catholic life in the country, as well as experts on religious freedom and Catholicism in China.
Chinese dictator Xi Jinping launched his “sinicization” of religion campaign ten years ago in an effort to push places of worship and religious teachings to reflect Han-centric Chinese culture and CCP ideology. An agreement reached two years later between the Holy See and China governing the appointment of bishops in the country has further “facilitated repression” of the country’s Catholics, the report adds. The agreement allows Chinese officials to propose candidates for bishop that the pope can veto, though no pope has exercised his veto in the eight years the agreement has been in place.
“A decade into Xi Jinping’s sinicization campaign and nearly eight years since the 2018 Holy See-China agreement, Catholics in China face escalating repression that violates their religious freedoms,” according to Human Rights Watch China researcher Yalkun Uluyol. “Pope Leo XIV should urgently review the agreement and press Beijing to end the persecution and intimidation of underground churches, clergy, and worshipers.”
People familiar with underground Catholic communities in China told Human Rights Watch that the 2018 agreement provided an “overarching structure for the authorities to pressure underground Catholics,” leaving the underground practitioners “no other choice but to join the official church.” One person told the group that their church was demolished, its cross was removed and its members were threatened and arrested.
Another source said the 2018 agreement has served as an “intelligent weapon to legally destroy underground churches” as senior underground bishops have died or been replaced my CCP-appointed bishops.
One expert said the sentiment among the underground Catholic community is one of betrayal by the Vatican.
Authorities have “demolished hundreds of church buildings or the crosses atop them throughout the country, prevented adherents from gathering in unofficial churches, cracked down on underground Protestant and Catholic churches, restricted access to the Bible, confiscated religious materials not authorized by the government, and banned Bible and other religious apps,” the report found.
But even Catholics in the state-sanctioned church have been subject to increased ideological control, surveillance and restrictions on religious activities, the report found. Clergy have been required to participate in political and ideological trainings, sometimes as often as twice a week.
While the CCP had already maintained control over religious materials, the priests’ teachings now also must be approved by authorities.
Chinese officials have also restricted religious activities by implementing registration requirements for church services and barring children from entering churches.
“There are also credible reports that authorities have prohibited religious education for children at home and religion-oriented charitable activities across the country,” the report adds.
Just last year, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Conference adopted requirements for Catholic clergy to submit their travel documents to CCP officials, with their trips outside mainland China, including for personal reasons, subject to state approval. Meanwhile, foreigners are prohibited from carrying out religious activities in China.
“The Holy See and concerned governments should press Beijing to respect the religious freedom of all Catholics and other religions in China,” Uluyol said. “The Chinese government should stop persecuting and intimidating worshipers for upholding their faith and spirituality independent of Communist Party control.”
Jimmy Lai, a prominent Hong Kong publisher, human rights activist, and committed Catholic, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February, following the end of his long-awaited trial in December, when he was convicted of violating Chinese national security laws. Lai’s sentence is the harshest ever handed down for a violation of this specific Chinese security law, which has been used in the country to quell any criticism of the Chinese Communist Party.
The crackdown on Catholicism in the country comes as CCP leaders have also carried out human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region. The Trump administration first declared the Chinese persecution of Uyghurs to be genocide five years ago. China has forced more than 1 million Uyghurs into internment camps since 2017. At the camps, victims are subjected to torture, forced labor, political indoctrination, and enforced sterilization.
Disappearing, Torture, Detention: How the CCP Is Forcing Catholics to Join the State-Run Church
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