Jesus with Chinese characteristics

It appears that the irreconcilable differences between the Holy See and the Chinese Communist Party are being recognised finally in the Vatican. For six years, the Vatican’s foreign diplomats have pursued reproachment with the CCP. In 2018, the Vatican entered into a secret agreement with the communist regime. It was renewed in 2020 and again in October 2022. Less than a month later, the Vatican accused the CCP of violating the terms of the agreement by appointing a bishop contrary to the terms of the arrangement.

That announcement was the first sign that Vatican officials were finally realising that the CCP would exploit the deal, just like other authoritarian regimes had done with similar arrangements in the past. In fact, a number of bishops have been arrested, jailed, or simply ‘disappeared’ despite the agreement.

It was also the first indication of the substance of the agreement, essentially a requirement that the appointment of bishops has the approval of the Vatican. In the reasoning of the Holy See, in order for Catholics to receive the eucharist, they need priests, who in turn must be appointed by bishops. This arrangement failed to save believers from persecution and imprisonment.

If the breach of the Vatican-CCP agreement is not sufficient for the Vatican to wake-up to the real intent of the CCP, more recent events involving other Christian churches should convince Vatican officials.

The CCP is committed to the ‘Sinicization of religion’ in China. Crosses have been removed from Christian churches; Buddhist temples and Muslim mosques destroyed; and, in actions reminiscent of Hitler’s National Reich Church, photos and sayings of Xi Jinping displayed in places of worship. Pastors have been arrested and jailed.

The ‘Sinicization of religion’ is not merely some requirement for religion with Chinese socialist characteristics, such as the use of the local language or Chinese imagery in texts. It is to ensure that all religion is subservient to the ideology of the CCP.

The latest instructions from the Taiyuan city Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau are an example of what is happening across the country. At a meeting of Three-Self Church pastors, the official CCP-controlled Protestant organisation, they were given directions of what to teach: ‘conscientiously study and implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,’ teach parishioners to ‘always follow the Party,’ and ‘study Xi JinpingThought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era.’ Sermons should reinforce Marxist religious studies. Nothing there about the Christian teachings or the bible!

Secondly, the Chinese Christian Council, the national body for Protestant churches in China, accompanied by CCP officials, recently began an examination of the curriculum and teaching materials at the Zhejiang Theological Seminary. The purpose of the inspection was to determine if the seminary was complying with the government’s Administrative Measures for Religious Schools.

If the requirements were limited to flying the national flag and singing the national anthem, they may be understandable, but they surpass such requests. These measures dictate that ‘all religious colleges and universities should promote Xi Jinping’s new era socialist ideology, and offer education to socialism with Chinese characteristics, education to patriotism, education to socialist core values, rule of law education.’ 

The measures also contain requirements for the teaching of public courses in the seminaries in which Xi Jinping thought is a central tenet. Teachers are to be inspected and subject to punishment for failing to comply with the directives. Inspections are expected to follow at other religious teaching institutes.

During a recent seminar in Hong Kong, the chair of the government-controlled Three-Self Church, Pastor Xu Xiaohong, instructed the leaders of the Protestant Churches on the island, including the head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Andrew Chan, on the ‘Sinicization of religion.’

Paster Wu Wei, the head of the China Christian Council, who had led the inspection of the Zhejiang Seminary, insisted that the churches conform in their teachings and practices to the dictates of the Central Committee of the CCP. Any semblance of independence from the state is rapidly being destroyed in Hong Kong, as it is elsewhere in China.

If the Vatican believes the Catholic church is exempted from the ‘Sinicization of religion’, it should reflect on the recent remarks of its Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow. For the second consecutive year, the church announced it would not hold a mass to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown, an event that had been conducted annually since 1989.

Chow, who has previously warned the clergy to be careful about what they preach, went further, saying that the church in China will not adopt ‘a mentality of colonialism,’ even though it has made such mistakes historically. ‘The fate of the church in China is inseparable from that of the country, as all the people of the church are also Chinese,’ he said in Chinese.

In an indication that the Vatican may be awakening to the unwillingness of the CCP to respect its position, Pope Francis spoke recently about the persecution of believers in China. At the end of last week’s general audience, he mentioned the World Day of Prayer for China, and called for prayers especially for ‘all those who suffer, pastors and faithful.’

In the past, Francis has refused to meet with church and world leaders who have questioned the Vatican’s agreements with the CCP. Infamously, he declined a meeting with Cardinal Joseph Zen, the emeritus archbishop of Hong Kong, as did his Secretary of State, to discuss the issues.

His words at the general audience may be slight, but many people hope they mark a reassessment of the failed policy of accommodation with the CCP. How the Vatican thought a belief system based on the inherent dignity and liberty of the individual could be compatible with one in which the individual is a mere instrument of the one-party state has confounded observers of this saga. Many pray that the Pope increasingly uses his moral voice to assert the freedoms of religion, association and speech so cavalierly crushed by Xi’s communist regime.

First published in the Spectator Australia