As Vatican deal with China set for renewal, are too many blind eyes being turned?

In a major blow to Chinese Catholics, the Pope has indicated the Vatican’s secretive deal with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will be renewed once again. Coming just a day after reports that the Vatican’s unofficial representative in Hong Kong warned Catholics the freedoms of the past were over, Pope Francis said he hopes the Vatican’s deal with the CCP can be renewed this Autumn, since the Church takes the long view on the matter. 

The deal – struck in 2018 between the Holy See and Beijing – was already renewed once in 2020. The Vatican and the CCP agreed to cooperate in the selection of bishops of a united Catholic Church in China. Beijing now elects and appoints bishops through the Bishops Conference of Catholic Church in China (BCCCC). The objective is a gradual merger of the Underground Catholic Church into the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA).

Beijing has sought control over the Church given that China’s estimated 97 million Christians now outnumber members of the Communist Party itself. Two years ago, when the deal was renewed, the Church said: “The Holy See considers the initial application of the agreement – which is of great ecclesial and pastoral value – to have been positive, thanks to good communication and cooperation between the parties on the matters agreed upon”. 

It is estimated that between 20 and 50 million Chinese Christians have experienced persecution in recent years, while a 2020 report by the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China found Chinese Catholics suffered “increasing persecution” after the deal was signed. In China, religious education is now illegal for under-18s, meaning catechism classes have been closed while minors are not allowed to enter places of worship. All churches registered with the authorities are also now monitored with CCTV.

With clergy imprisoned – including Cardinal Zen in Hong Kong – Catholics were increasingly hoping that conditions could be attached to any deal renewal this year. The Church has the chance to take a stand, especially since it is not encumbered with economic considerations and Vatican City State remains the only European country to recognise Taiwan as the legitimate government of China, despite pressure from the CCP to change this position. 

Yet, the Pope said: “The agreement is moving well and I hope that in October it can be renewed.” The Holy Father defended the deal in terms of statecraft, working with the little available and trying to improve upon it, drawing comparisons with outreach by Popes John XXII and Paul VI when the Vatican struck deals with eastern European countries to keep the Church alive during the Cold War. Of course, those regimes did not have the surveillance tools or reach of the CCP, and levels of persecution never reached levels seen in China.

The Pope may claim “diplomacy is the art of the possible and of doing things to make the possible become a reality,” but the persecution of Christians such as Cardinal Zen points to the true nature of the situation. While Pope Francis claims appointment of bishops in China “is going slowly, but they are being appointed”, this seems to ignore the fact Chinese Catholicism is now fully under the jurisdiction of the CCP. Clerics like Bishop Augustine Cui Tai have been in jail on and off since 2007. Bishop Cui Tai is a “conscientious objector” who refused to join the CPCA, which is permitted by the Vatican. 

Incidentally, only six new bishops have been appointed since the deal was inked. This may be “the Chinese way”, as the Pope says – or, more accurately, the CCP way – but does that mean the Catholic Church has to go along with it? The Pope may claim persecution varies by region, but does that really matter? According to Cardinal Zen: “The Vatican may have acted out of good faith, but they have made an unwise decision.” He earlier said: “It seems that in order to save the agreement, the Holy See is closing both eyes on all the injustices that the Communist Party inflicts on the Chinese people.” 

As with the persecution of Catholics and Christians in Nigeria and India, is this the Vatican turning a blind eye to the plight of Catholics and other Christians around the world? In the US – in the aftermath of the momentous decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade and hand the right to legalise abortion back to individual American states – the Pope appears to have condemned abortion but not those office-holders who actively support it. Catholic Churches have subsequently been attacked in the states of Washington and Wisconsin alone. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has tracked at least 144 incidents across 36 states of vandalism at Catholic sites since May 2020. 

The Vatican deal with the CCP is an opportunity to take a stand, to send a message about the persecution of Catholics and other Christians in China and around the world. The message would be heard loud and clear across the Catholic world, including in China’s neighbour, the Philippines. The risk is that in turning a blind eye, or at least playing down the persecution, the Church begins to lose Catholic hearts and minds. If the Vatican is not the defender of the lives and wellbeing of Catholic clergy and congregations in China – and elsewhere in Africa and Asia – as well as of places of worship in North America, then who exactly will fill that role?