The Vatican just locked in another four years of a secret deal with Communist China, even as reports show persecution of Catholic bishops getting worse under Beijing’s watch.
Quick Take
- The Holy See extended its 2018 bishop-appointment agreement with China for four more years in October 2024.
- The deal lets Chinese officials propose bishop candidates, with the Pope holding final veto power.
- Human rights groups say persecution of Chinese bishops has grown worse since the pact began.
- The full text of the agreement has never been made public, even after three renewals.
- Critics argue the deal hands the Chinese Communist Party a tool to control the Catholic Church.
A Secret Pact Renewed Despite Warnings
The Vatican announced on October 22, 2024, that it would extend its provisional agreement with China for another four years. The Holy See said the extension followed “the consensus reached for an effective application” of the deal. Nobody outside the negotiating rooms has ever seen the full text of this agreement. It first started in 2018 and has now been renewed three times, all while the terms stay hidden from the public.
Communist Officials Get a Say in Church Leadership
Under the arrangement, Chinese government officials propose candidates for bishop, and the Pope can veto names he does not approve. Reuters reported the deal gives Chinese officials real input into who leads Catholic dioceses in the country. Since 2018, the two sides have agreed on 10 bishop appointments, covering about a third of the dioceses in China that had gone without a bishop. That may sound like progress. But it means an atheist, one-party government now has a formal role in choosing Catholic leaders.
Persecution Has Not Stopped
Human Rights Watch called on Pope Leo XIV to urgently review the agreement, warning that Beijing still restricts China’s roughly 12 million Catholics to state-controlled churches. A Hudson Institute report identified 10 Catholic bishops in China who continue to face harassment and detention despite the deal supposedly easing tensions. The report found that Beijing’s crackdown on bishops who refused to bend to Communist Party control actually intensified after the agreement took effect.
Rome Calls It Pastoral, Not Political
Vatican officials have consistently defended the deal as a spiritual matter, not a political one. Then-spokesman Greg Burke told reporters the accord was “not political but pastoral,” meant to let the faithful have bishops recognized by both Rome and Chinese authorities. The Vatican’s own Jesuit journal described the pact as “radically and essentially pastoral,” aimed at helping the Church preach the Gospel inside China. That framing asks Catholics to trust that engaging with an authoritarian government produces better outcomes than confrontation.
Conservative Voices Push Back
Catholic commentators and religious freedom advocates have grown louder in their criticism as each renewal passes with no public accountability. Fortify Rights described China’s broader religious campaign as one “aimed at imposing Chinese Communist Party ideology on religious belief,” noting the timing lines up closely with the Vatican’s own agreement. For conservatives who value religious liberty and distrust government overreach, a deal that lets an authoritarian regime pick church leaders looks less like diplomacy and more like surrender.
What Comes Next
Pope Leo XIV has so far kept the agreement in place, appointing bishops under its framework since taking office. BBC reporting noted his first Chinese bishop appointment signaled his intent to uphold the 2018 pact rather than reverse course. With the deal now locked in through 2028, the core question remains unresolved: does working with Beijing actually protect Chinese Catholics, or does it simply give the Communist Party a stamp of legitimacy while persecution continues behind closed doors?
Sources:
lifesitenews.com, archny.org, reuters.com, ewtnnews.com
