A Discouraging Summer for Chinese Catholics

As Bitter Winter reports, “What was presented as a ‘historical’ seminar on ‘Sinicization’ of religion was held in Beijing on June 26. In addition to top-level leaders of the five authorized religions [‘Protestant Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, and Taoism’], the conference featured high-level representatives of the Organization Department of the CCP Central Committee,” among other groups.

The only important speech was “the keynote speech, to which all the other speakers referred. It was delivered by Shi Taifeng, member of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee and Minister of the Central United Front Work Department*. Shi said that ‘Sinicization of religion is the only way to actively guide religions to adapt to socialist society.’”

Therefore, Bitter Winter continues, “In a socialist society, there is no room for ‘non-Sinicized’ religions. They are a threat to social harmony and progress and will be eradicated”: one could not be more clear.

Contrary to what Vatican diplomats would like to believe, Sinicization does not consist in a prudent adaptation of religion to Chinese culture and traditions, as envisaged by recent missionaries of China, but in a total alignment of the Church, its divine constitution and its dogmas, to the principles of Marxism according to Mao Zedong and his successors.

Shi then “used a comparatively new formula,” Bitter Winter notes: he told the representatives of religions that they should submit to the doctrine of the “Two Establishes” and the “Two Safeguards”: sibylline expressions for Westerners.

In the name of the “Two establishes,” religious activities should highlight the magisterium that Xi Jinping exercises over Chinese socialism, as well as the central place occupied by the current Chinese head of state.

Through the principle of the “Two Safeguards,” the priests, for example, will often have to remind people that the truth is not taught by God, but rather by the CCP and by its master, Comrade Xi.

Thus, Sinicization has no other aim than to transform the formal object of faith by substituting the regulatory thought of the current strongman of China for the authority of God, Author of Revelation. And woe to those who would dare to contravene the new dogmatic norms.

In this totalitarian universe, many people are questioning the value of the provisional agreement signed by the Holy See and China in 2018, then renewed in 2020 and 2022. While the terms remain unknown, this protocol is meant to end the schism caused by the founding of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, and the appointment by the CCP of bishops entirely devoted to its cause.

But what about a legitimate episcopate that would be required to teach Marxist errors? This fall, the provisional agreement is once again coming to an end: suffice it to say that the coming months will be crucial for Chinese Catholics who hope that the Vatican will send them a sign.

* [Note from Bitter Winter] “United Front Work Department (UFWD 統戰部). An intelligence agency established by the CCP authorities, it is used to gather information about and manage relations with democratic parties, intellectuals, dissenters, academics, religious and ethnic groups, and other individuals of influence, like business people, that are not directly associated with the Party inside China and abroad. Its main aim is to eliminate anti-communist forces or incite anyone outside the Party to support the CCP and its government. UFWD supervises nine internal bureaus, and among them, the second bureau is responsible for dealing with religious affairs; the seventh is in charge of Tibet-related matters, and the ninth deals with Xinjiang. UFWD also administers the five officially-sanctioned religious organizations.”