The Chinese Bishop Problem<\/h2>\n
Today, the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC) does permit the practice of religion, but only under government control. Since the 1950s, five religions have been recognized by the PRC \u2014 Buddhism, Islam, Protestantism, Daoism, and Catholicism. Each of these is governed by a \u201cpatriotic association,\u201d and these associations are overseen by a bureau of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s Central Committee. This bureau is the State Administration for Religious Affairs, and its primary mission is to be certain that religious institutions support the policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As part of this mission, the religious affairs bureau monitors clergy to be sure that they are loyal to the CCP. Further, high-level clergy \u2014 Catholic bishops, for example \u2014 are supposed to be appointed only by the CCP, not by religious institutions.\u00a0 Or, in the case of Catholic bishops, by the Pope. In other words, the government-approved Catholic Church in China is not supposed to be headed by the Vatican but operated entirely by the CCP. At the same time, an underground Catholic Church that considers itself headed by the Vatican has survived in China.<\/p>\n
As time went on, it came to Rome\u2019s attention that there was a critical shortage of clergy in China\u2019s underground church. In 1978 Pope Paul VI granted dispensations to the canonical rules for the underground Chinese Catholic Church. These dispensations allowed candidates to the priesthood to be ordained without formal seminary training, which of course wasn\u2019t available in China. In 1981, Pope John Paul II authorized nine Chinese bishops to ordain new bishops for the Chinese Catholic Church. Five of these bishops were from the underground church. Four served in the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association<\/a>, but the four \u201cgovernment\u201d bishops had been ordained by the Church, not the Party, decades earlier.\u00a0 Pope Benedict XVI further encouraged unity between the underground and CCPA churches.\u00a0 In time a number of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association bishops were recognized by the Vatican as legitimate. For a good background on this, see a 2024 article in the Union of Catholic Asian News, \u201cThe Holy See, Beijing, and the future of Sino-Vatican relations<\/a>\u201d by Jonathan Y. Tan.<\/p>\n In 2018, Pope Francis and the CCP agreed to a compromise regarding the appointment of bishops. The details of this compromise have never been made public, but it has been widely reported that the compromise allows Chinese authorities to nominate bishops for the government-approved churches. Then the Vatican would have final approval of the nominees. At the same time, the Vatican may not appoint a bishop in China that the CCP does not support.<\/p>\n The problem, according to the critics, is that this agreement comes at the expense of the underground Catholic church. To better understand the views of the critics, please see Francis X. Rocca, \u201cThe Vatican\u2019s Gamble With Beijing Is Costing China\u2019s Catholics<\/a>\u201d at The Atlantic<\/em>, May 14, 2024. Rocca, a journalist with extensive experience<\/a> covering the Vatican, writes that Pope Francis compromised the Catholic faith in China. \u201cHe accommodates Beijing in order to stabilize the Church in China, but Chinese authorities aren\u2019t interested in the faith that Francis professes,\u201d Rocca wrote. \u201cThey\u2019ve made clear that they want a Church that submits to the state; such a Church might be stable, but would it be Catholic?\u201d<\/p>\n Let\u2019s now step back and take a broader view. Many westerners are confused about religion in today\u2019s China. For example, it\u2019s widely believed in the West that the Bible is banned in China. I still occasionally read a news story about someone getting caught trying to smuggle Bibles into the People\u2019s Republic. But Bibles haven\u2019t been banned in China for decades, and in fact one of the largest Bible publishers in the world<\/a> is located in Shanghai. However, the government controls distribution of these Bibles in China, and I understand they are available only through the \u201cpatriotic association\u201d churches.<\/p>\n Mao Zedong took control of China, and inaugurated the People\u2019s Republic of China, in 1949. It was under Mao that the patriotic associations and their controlling Communist Party bureaucracy were formed. Mao was famously antagonistic toward religion, and all religion quickly became a target. Christianity, which in much of Asia is still associated with European colonialism, was denounced as \u201cforeign cultural imperialism.\u201d Foreign missionaries were deported. Churches were forced to cut ties with outside authorities, such as the Vatican, During the Cultural Revolution<\/a> (1966-1976), mobs of Red Guards attacked all religious structures \u2014 shrines, churches, mosques, temples. Even ancient and historic Chinese temples, such as the 15-century-old Shaolin Temple<\/a>, were sacked, and monks and priests were flogged and paraded through the streets to be publicly shamed.<\/p>\n The madness ended with Mao\u2019s death in 1976. After Mao, the CCP began to moderate its position toward religion. In 1982, the Central Committee of the CCP issued a manifesto that proclaimed the Chinese had \u201cfreedom of religion.\u201d However, this freedom only applied to \u201cnormal religious activities,\u201d which were not defined, and the government banned religious education for children. It also banned Party members from accepting religious teachings. Even so, through most of the 1980s religions in China were relatively<\/em> free, many sources say, although Tibetan Buddhists might disagree. The government was more focused on rebuilding China\u2019s economy than on what was going on in churches. Thus, Pope John Paul II had a relatively free hand to ordain nine Catholic bishops.<\/p>\n The pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests<\/a> of 1989 brought about increased restrictions on all aspects of life in the People\u2019s Republic. Chinese authorities cracked down on unauthorized religion, including the underground Catholic Church. In 1995, the CCP began singling out and banning many unofficial religious groups, most of them Christian, as \u201cevil cults.\u201d It was also in 1995 that the child identified as the 11th tulku<\/em>, or rebirth, of the Panchen Lama<\/a> of Tibetan Buddhism was seized by Chinese authorities \u2014 with his entire family \u2014 and was never seen again. The CCP chose another boy, the son of a high-level Communist Party member, to serve in the role, as he does to this day.<\/p>\n In 2007, the State Administration for Religious Affairs released Order No. 5, which covers \u201cthe management measures for the reincarnation of living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism.\u201d The order provides \u201capplication and approval procedures\u201d for the proper rebirth of \u201cliving Buddhas,\u201d which is what the Chinese call Tibetan lamas. Applicants for rebirth must apply to various parts of the bureaucracy of the People\u2019s Republic of China to be approved and recognized. Digest that one for a moment. And Beijing has already claimed the authority to choose the next Dalai Lama. I mention this to point to what the CCP is capable of doing, to any religion.<\/p>\n Many sources say that President Hu Jintao, who served from 2003 to 2013, took a somewhat more lenient attitude toward religion. He believed religion could contribute to a harmonious society. However, there also were reports of government raids on \u201chouse churches\u201d<\/a> during Hu\u2019s tenure. House churches are residences where Chinese Christians gather to worship outside the control of the State Administration for Religious Affairs. And as the BBC reported in 2008<\/a>, there was a massive crackdown on Tibetan Buddhist monasteries during Hu\u2019s tenure. Yet to this day Hu Jimtao is considered a relatively benign dictator where religion is concerned.<\/p>\n After Hu Jintao came Xi Jinping, the current president of the PRC. Xi Jinping is all about internal unity and discipline. In 2014 the CCP began an intense oppression of the Uyghurs<\/a>, a Muslim people living in western China. (See also \u201cWho Are the Uyghurs and Why Is China Being Accused of Genocide<\/a>\u201d from BBC News, May 2022.) <\/span>In 2015 Xi announced his \u201cSinicization<\/a>\u201d policy for all religions in China. According to this helpful article from the Pew Research Center<\/a>, Xi called for \u201call religious groups in China to adapt to socialism by integrating their doctrines, customs and morality with Chinese culture.\u201d However, see also Fenggang Yang in Christianity Today<\/em>, \u201cXi Jinping Is Not Trying to Make Christianity More Chinese<\/a>\u201d (January 16, 2024). Fengang Yang writes that Xi\u2019s real goal is not cultural assimilation but the complete submission of all religion to \u201cthe Chinese Communist party-state.\u201d Xi has been even tougher on the house churches and other religious groups not recognized by the CCP than was Hu Jintao. Last year the Catholic News Agency reported<\/a> that \u201cChinese officials have ordered the removal of crosses from churches and have replaced images of Christ and the Virgin Mary with images of President Xi Jinping.\u201d<\/p>\n Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina became Pope Francis<\/a> in 2013, the same year Xi Jinping became president of China. And this takes us to the 2018 agreement between the Vatican and the Chinese Communist Party. Was this agreement the disaster some critics say it is? Note that some of the news reporting about this deal has been awful. For example, this story claims<\/a> that Pope Francis \u201cceded to the Chinese Communist Party control over appointing bishops.\u201d No, the Chinese Communist Party had been appointing bishops without the Vatican\u2019s input for many years. What Pope Francis negotiated gave the Vatican some input. I can\u2019t fault him for that.<\/p>\nThe Shifting Religious-Political Landscape of China<\/h2>\n
The CCP Tightens Its Grip on Religion\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
Pope Francis Confronts the China Problem<\/h2>\n
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