The Vatican, Communist China, and Trump: Making A Deal With The Devil

By Seth Hakes and Rex Teodosio

With the visit of communist China’s premiere, Xi Jinping, to meet with President Donald Trump in Florida on April 6 - 7, several important issues are surfacing again. Pundits assessed that the talks could include, the communist regime’s aggressive pursuit of a One China policy that threatens Taiwan’s (Republic of China) independence. Another issue could be China’s baffling claims to outlying islands near Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam. The other could be about trade and manufacturing. A possible fourth issue could be the result of the recent elections in Hong Kong, which belied the weakest pretense of a free election. The winner, chief executive Carrie Lam, is being called out by Fox News as a proxy of Beijing and by UK’s The Telegraph as Beijing’s puppet.

Although these issues are of pressing importance and with far-reaching consequences, there is yet another issue that is at risk to be neglected by the summit: the persecution of the underground Catholic Church in China.

China’s underground Catholics are in the midst of a decades-long persecution.  They are being ignored by human rights commissions, by foreign governments including the United States, and even by the Vatican.

The roots of the Catholic persecution in China began with Mao Zedong, former chairman of the Communist Party of China.  When his party took complete dominance in 1949, they rounded up Catholic clergy, forced out missionaries, and ravaged churches.  Chairman Mao’s initial effort to eradicate Catholicism was not successful so in 1957, the communist party established the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA). At the time, Pope Pius XII published Ad Apostolorum principis on June 29, 1958 to decry the persecution of the faith. The pope imposed excommunication to any Catholic bishop who participated in any consecration of other bishops to the CPCA.

The persecution Pope Pius XII condemned continues until today. Just two years ago, the government demolished statues depicting biblical scenes at a Catholic pilgrimage site in Wenzhou. A little over a year ago, a 94 year old bishop died in prison.  Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang spent half of his life in forced labor and jail. That’s 47 years of enslavement. He was last seen 14 years ago when he “disappeared” on Good Friday, April 13th, 2001 and is now reported dead.

Unable to quell Catholicism, the communist regime is trying to force all Catholics to submit to government approved churches, serviced by government-approved priests and bishops, preaching government-approved teachings. The heart of the difference between the two churches is that the underground Catholics are faithful to Rome and the patriotic “Catholics” are faithful to Beijing. Given that the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association is under absolute control of China’s communist government, the underground Catholics are being forced to renounce the authority of Rome, devotions not approved by the CPCA and the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ that Beijing does not approve.

Recently, the Vatican claimed it is near to closing on making a deal with the CPCA. This deal will legitimize all bishops consecrated under the authority of the CPCA and the authority of the association bishops recognized. It will effectively eliminate the sanction of excommunication promulgated by Pius XII.

Understandably, Cardinal Joseph Zen from Hong Kong is weary of any deal with Beijing. In February, LifeSiteNews¹ reported that the cardinal emeritus “has accused the Vatican of betraying the underground Church in China by pursuing a deal with the government.”

The underground Catholics have a list of grievances against the patriotic association and Beijing, namely, hundreds of imprisoned priests and bishops, destroyed churches faithful to Rome, demolished shrines and monuments erected by non-association Catholics, and association spies who infiltrate Catholic communities only to betray them to the government leading to direct persecution.

UK’s The Guardian² reported that Cardinal Zen said “maybe the pope is a little naive.”  “He may not know the Communist persecutors who have killed hundreds of thousands,” said the Cardinal.

If the deal goes through, it puts the underground Catholics in a grave dilemma. By virtue of being faithful to Rome, should they, out of obedience, integrate with the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association? Should they abandon decades long of struggle to preserve the Catholic faith, Marian devotions and other sacred traditions? Should they finally conform to the ambiguous beliefs of the Patriotic Church? Should they cede control of one of the most fundamental of all human rights or face persecution and martyrdom.

Perhaps President Trump and the Vatican will remember the suffering of millions of Catholics in communist China. With all that we know about China’s brutal history, the suppression of free speech in Hong Kong, the looming threat over Taiwan, the longstanding labor abuses and the current suffering of the persecuted underground catholics, this deal, or any other, is like making one with the devil.

1. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/03/26/beijings-favored-candidate-carrie-lam-chosen-to-be-hong-kongs-first-female-leader.html

2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/18/independence-impossible-says-chinese-backed-leader-hong-kong/

Seth Hakes is an aspiring teenage catholic writer and apologist. He wants to follow in the footsteps of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Catherine of Sienna who spoke and wrote so boldly about Christ and the Church. His motivation in writing is the desire to transform peoples lives.