On September 22, 2018, after several years of discussion, the Vatican and the People’s Republic of China reached a provisional agreement on the issue of the nomination of bishops and promised “increased collaboration at the bilateral level.”
In the agreement, the Vatican readmitted seven Chinese bishops from excommunication (H.E. Mgsrs. Joseph Guo Jincai, Joseph Huang Bingzhang, Paul Lei Shiyin, Liu Xinhong, Ma Yinglin, Joseph Yue Fusheng, and Vincent Zhan Silu), who were ordained without Pontifical Mandate.
The Vatican will ask for the input of the Communist Party (CPC) in appointing future Catholic bishops. The arrangement also requires China to acknowledge the pope as the head of the Catholic Church in China. The agreement allows for revisions in the first two years after enactment.
On August 28, 2019, the Catholic Church ordained the first bishops in China. The bishops were approved by both the Vatican and the Communist Party as the deal requires. The ordained bishops were Bishop Yao Shun of the Jining diocese in the northern Inner Mongolia region and Bishop Xu Hongwei of the Hanzhong diocese in northwestern Shaanxi.
The deal between the Vatican and China is not without precedent. Every pope since St. Paul VI has tried to work with communist countries to ensure the safety and freedom of Catholics. The Vatican has practiced Ostpolitik since 1979. Ostpolitik refers to the policy started under Paul VI of “engaging with Eastern European communist regimes through compromise and agreements with the aim of building on small gains over time.”
In 2000, Pope John Paul II sought a similar deal with China, but the two parties failed to reach an agreement. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI also sought a deal similar to the current pact. In 2005, the Vatican and the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) reached an agreement that specified that the pope could choose bishops from a list provided by the CPV. The provisional agreement with China is largely viewed as a repetition of the deal with Vietnam.
Significant questions have been raised about the willingness of the Communist Party of China to follow through on its promises (CPC). During the negotiation of the deal, the CPC stopped appointing bishops, which was viewed as a necessary step for continuing negotiations. However, after the deal was signed, the CPC has increased its crackdown on the underground church, hoping to drive them to join the, now approved, Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA). The Vatican has asked priests and bishops to join the CPA and register with the CPC, but allows them to refuse if their conscience forbids them from doing so.
The agreement will face significant hurdles before full enforcement. The Vatican, which recognizes 145 dioceses, and China, which recognizes 96, still do not acknowledge the same dioceses. It is currently unknown if the CPC will even recognize the 49 acknowledged by the Vatican, let alone nominate bishops to serve those areas.
There are serious doubts that China will follow through on their commitments to religious freedom. Since becoming President for Life in 2018, President Xi Jinping has harshly cracked down on religious groups in China to ensure that they “Sinicize” (religious teachings should emphasize patriotism to China and support of the CCP). Since the 1950 annexation of Tibet, the CPC has repeatedly cracked down on Buddhists in Tibet and even exiled the Dalai Lama. Recently, the CPC has started a program of mass detention, surveillance, forced labor, reeducation and “vocational education” of Muslims in its northwest region of Xinjiang. The CPC has even created a new translation and interpretation of the Bible for all Christians in China. Improvements in tolerance for Catholics and other religious groups in China have been small, but Catholic leaders in both hemispheres hope they can lay a foundation for greater development.
Ken Goetz is a philosophy major with minors in theology and linguistics from Northwest Ohio. A blackbelt, who is a fan of the Yankees, Pistons, and Browns, Ken reverted to the faith in 2019.
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