A Tense New Year for the Sino-Vatican Agreement

On January 2, 2024, security forces came to the home of Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin—not to offer him the new year greetings of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) but to take him for detention in an unknown destination. They asked him to take with him clothing appropriate for all seasons, which suggests an incarceration of indefinite length.

This is not Bishop Shao Zhumin’s first experience with Communist jails. He is 61 years old and became Bishop of Wenzhou, succeeding Bishop Vincent Zhu Weifang, in 2016 by the mandate of the Holy See. However, he is still not recognized by the CCP.

The CCP does not recognize Bishop Shao Zhumin because he refuses to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association—a body directly controlled by the Communist power—and for this reason, the Communist Chinese consider the episcopal seat of Wenzhou vacant.

The prelate is therefore familiar with impromptu visits from the police: during major religious feasts, he is regularly placed under house arrest—generally for a few days—to prevent him from publicly celebrating Mass and performing religious duties.

But the arrest of January 2 took place in a different context, following a letter of protest—written by the bishop—against decisions made in his absence by certain members of the diocesan clergy authorized by Beijing: priestly ordinations, transfer of priests... So many acts which are under the jurisdiction of the ordinary and which were decided without his approval.

Needless to say, Bishop Shao Zhumin’s letter created some commotion within the local branch of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which asked the CCP to punish the recalcitrant prelate: there is no doubt that the authorities will decide to make the Bishop of Wenzhou an example in order to avoid any “defiant behavior” in the future.

A Stone in the Vatican Garden

This arrest is an additional bad sign as the secret two-year provisional agreement signed in 2018 by Beijing and the Holy See, then renewed in 2022, expires in the fall of 2024.

It was an agreement desired by “Pope Francis—with determination and patient foresight [...] not under the illusion of finding perfection in human rules, but in the concrete hope of being able to assure Chinese Catholic communities, even in such a complex context, of the guidance of pastors who are worthy and suitable for the task entrusted to them,” explained Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in his capacity as Secretary of State for the Holy See, on October 22, 2022.

With several years of hindsight—and the numerous harassments suffered by the priests and faithful of China—is speaking of “patient foresight” still audible on the other side of the Great Wall? The coming months will be decisive in answering this question.