Incredibly, the vicious persecution of Catholics continues to this day – even in a supposed era of universal human rights for all. The regime, of course, claims that being a “Catholic” in China is fine, just so long as one is a member of the communist government-controlled “Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.”
“The Catholic Church in China continues to struggle against state domination and persecution, even as it recovers from the bloodier period of mass annihilation of the Cultural Revolution,” explains Director Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom. “The fundamental crisis is the government’s insistence on controlling the Catholic Church through a framework of oversight structures and strangling regulations, and by banning such church teachings as the right to life. Such controls extend to the essential issue of appointing bishops without Vatican approval.”
The problem for Catholics, among others, is that the regime’s Association insists on independence from the Vatican and complete allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party. As then-Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan explained last year while seeking prayers for China, the Church without the Holy Father is, well, an oxymoron.
In 2007, an agreement was struck between the regime and the Vatican that would have allowed the Holy See to approve and ordain bishops selected by the government-controlled Patriotic Association. But in recent years the regime ordained bishops without the Vatican’s approval anyway – even forcing the participation of bishops loyal to Rome, Shea said. Pope Benedict XVI and bishops around the world protested the outrage, but to no avail.
Many of the communist-approved bishops have secretly pledged their union with the Vatican. Nevertheless, the regime has continued to “ordain” its illegitimate Bishops in what the Holy See calls illicit ordinations – all in defiance of the Vatican. Meanwhile, Bishops and priests faithful to the Church are sometimes forced to participate in the fraud. And when they refuse to submit to the regime’s improper dictates, some have been arrested, tortured, sent away to labor camps, and worse. In some cases the faithful have even been martyred for their faith.
“As universal Pastor of the Church, I wish to manifest sincere gratitude to the Lord for the deeply-felt witness of faithfulness offered by the Chinese Catholic community in truly difficult circumstances,” Pope Benedict XVI wrote to the Church in China in a 2007 letter. “At the same time, I sense the urgent need, as my deep and compelling duty and as an expression of my paternal love, to confirm the faith of Chinese Catholics and favour their unity with the means proper to the Church.”
While the situation may appear calm on the surface – the open Church is erecting buildings, evangelizing, growing and even openly running charitable operations – all is not truly well. “Americans should pray for the Chinese Church, for the ability of the Catholic Church there to exist in communion with Rome and for basic human rights for its underground bishops and priests, especially those now languishing in detention,” says Shea.
Much of the repression goes on behind the scenes now, as the regime purports to allow Catholicism while seeking to control it. And there are more than a few tragic examples of the persecution. According to Shea, Church sources had just informed her that five underground priests in the diocese of Suiyuan were detained by authorities in Inner Mongolia. No charges were stated.
And arresting Church figures is hardly a new phenomenon. Two prominent leaders of the Catholic underground Church in China, Bishop Sue Zhiming and Bishop Shi Enxiang, were “disappeared” by the regime more than ten years ago. Communist officials continue to falsely claim that they do not know what happened to them. But their supporters around the world – while worried about what brutal torture they may be enduring – have not given up hope. Dozens of underground Catholic priests continue to languish in the regime’s dungeons as well.
