Emilio Gonzalez wants the Vatican to stop helping the Chinese Communist Party repress Catholics within China. Can it be that the Vatican and the current pope do not know that this is what they are doing?
Gonzalez, a retired U.S. intelligence officer, looks at the 2018 agreement between the Holy See and the PRC under which “Beijing proposes candidates for bishops and the Pope retains a [hypothetical and imaginary] veto. The agreement was renewed in 2020 and 2022 and extended in 2024 through October 2028” (The Washington Times, August 11, 2026).
Before and after this misguided settlement, Catholics in China have been split between two churches or forms of the church.
Two churches
In one, church members accept direct supervision by the Party, which includes letting images of Xi Jinping be slapped on the wall and accepting “Sinicization” of sermons: priests spreading the gospel according to Xi. Then there’s the harassed underground Catholic Church consisting of “bishops, priests, religious sisters, seminarians and lay faithful loyal to Rome.” The priests in underground churches don’t have to spout propaganda about socialism with Chinese characteristics. But they and other members are under continual pressure and may be arrested at any time.
The pre-pact situation was bad enough. But now the Vatican is helping the CCP to exert its pressure to shore up what Pope Leo should regard as the false Catholic Church and further punish and marginalize what he should regard as the true Church.
The agreement has helped Beijing pressure underground Roman Catholics to join the pro-communist church, apparently with Rome’s acquiescence.
Underground Catholic communities continue to face escalating ideological control, surveillance, travel restrictions, destruction of churches and pressure to merge into to the state-approved church. Chinese authorities arbitrarily detain bishops and clergy and some have [been] forcibly disappeared.
Others are subjected to house arrest, with the Vatican deal used as a tool of coercion….
Beijing derisively ignores the Vatican agreement by installing unapproved bishops in unapproved dioceses. Some Vatican-recognized bishops have even been asked to resign by Rome to make room for Beijing’s appointments….
During the most recent agreement negotiations, then 94-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, the retired archbishop of Hong Kong and prominent human rights advocate, traveled to the Vatican to forcefully argue against any extension. Cardinal Zen articulated that the communist Chinese cannot be trusted.
His efforts failed as Pope Francis refused to meet with him and the Curia ignored and then publicly rebuked him. Cardinal Zen has accused Cardinal Parolin of lying about the agreement.
When Cardinal Zen was jailed by the Chinese on bogus security charges, the Vatican largely stayed silent, and he was mostly left on his own.
Gonzalez seems to be a little off in his chronology. Zen, born January 13, 1932, turned 94 in January 2026, and the CCP-Vatican agreement was renewed in 2024.
It’s true enough that the cardinal has been a longtime foe of the agreement. In 2018, The Irish Times reported that Zen (shown above) “accused the Vatican of ‘selling out’ the Catholic Church in China after the Holy See asked two ‘underground’ bishops to give way to prelates approved by Beijing.” At that time, Pope Francis was still apparently in the middle of closed-door negotiations with Beijing.
“Am I the major obstacle in the process of reaching a deal between the Vatican and China? If that is a bad deal, I would be more than happy to be the obstacle,” Zen said back then. But he was unable prevent the deal. If only Zen had been pope.
Neither the fate of Cardinal Zen nor the Vatican’s silence is exceptional, unfortunately.
Reassess
Gonzalez urges the Vatican to “reassess” its accord with the CCP, be transparent about its terms, and reject any punishment of underground Catholics and any pressuring of them into submitting to CCP regulation of their church. Would anything be left of the agreement if the Vatican did all this? No.
Sure, reveal the full terms; end the secrecy. Find out that things are as bad as or worse than we suspect. Apologize for ever signing such a pact. Then rip it up.
