Pope Francis Gives Rare Acknowledgement To Persecution Of Chinese Catholics

A Catholic Church in China. 马桥天主堂 马桥镇东市稍 Creative Commons photo by Fayhoo.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pope Francis gave a rare statement of support for the struggling community of Catholics in China after a Sunday appearance celebrating the Virgin Mary in Vatican City.

Since 2008 under Pope Benedict XVI, the Church has celebrated the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China on May 24.

“Tomorrow, the Catholic faithful in China celebrate the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, the celestial patron of their great country,” the pontiff said on May 23, according to the official Vatican News Service.

While the pope did not explicitly note the violence perpetuated on Catholic groups who refuse to pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the pontiff alluded to a need for peace and justice in China.

Addressing the audience, Pope Francis asked that they pray the Holy Spirit would help Chinese Catholics “to be bearers of the happy message, witnesses of goodness and charity, and builders of justice and peace in their country.”

Pope Francis acknowledged the importance of the Virgin Mary to the Chinese Catholic population, who venerate her under a number of titles. He drew particular attention to the fact that "the Mother of the Lord and of the Church is venerated with particular devotion in the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai and is assiduously invoked by Christian families, in the trials and hopes of daily life,” according to Asia News.

The Shrine of Sheshan, a major Catholic landmark in China and a pilgrimage destination on the day of prayer for Chinese Catholics, has been closed for the Day of Prayer for the second year in the row under the pretense of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Hotels, amusement parks and other facilities surrounding the holy site operate openly and without restriction. The continued closure of such an important site for the minority religion continues without a sufficient explanation.

Pope Francis asked the Chinese Catholic community to “unite” in prayer towards the Virgin Mary, comparing the faithful of China to the first disciples who received the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost. 

According to Catholic teaching, the disciples’ experience at the Pentecost gave them the capacity to spread the Gospel across the world despite persecution and opposition of the government and societal pressures.

“How good and how necessary it is that the members of a family and of a Christian community are ever more united in love and in faith!” Pope Francis said. “In this way, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, pastors and faithful can follow the example of the first disciples who, on the solemnity of Pentecost, were united in prayer with Mary as they awaited the Holy Spirit.”

Chinese Catholics have been baffled in recent years by the Vatican’s continued silence on the CCP’s treatment of Catholic communities and have criticized the Holy See for its continued treaties with China that they claim are one-sided and lack protection for outspoken Catholics.

Currently, the Chinese church is split into two asymmetrical groups — the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) and the “underground church.” 

The CPCA is organized, operated and holds allegiance to the CCP and seeks to maintain control over believers within the nation. By far the more prominent and well-funded of the two church groups in China, the CPCA was established in order to curb concerns that Catholics would hold allegiance to an outside monarch over obedience to the CCP.

The “underground church,” by comparison, is run discreetly out of private residences and clandestine meeting spaces in defiance of the CPCA. While it is impossible to accurately report the number of Catholics participating in these unsanctioned religious services, they are vastly outnumbered by members of CPCA, and are frequently raided and arrested for their resistance to the country’s religious laws.

The pope’s Sunday comments were shared on social media by Cardinal Joseph Zen, Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong. Zen is one of the country’s most prominent and outspoken critics of the CCP and the treatment of Catholics in China. He is openly involved in the support and operation of the “underground church”.

Despite being turned away in his attempts to gain an audience with Pope Francis, Cardinal Zen has been clear that his ultimate allegiance is to the pontiff and he holds no animosity to the Holy See.

READ: Exclusive: Hong Kong's Cardinal Zen Says Vatican Lied About The Church In China

Last week, Cardinal Zen issued a demand for retraction and correction to the Sunday Examiner, a Hong Kong-based Catholic newspaper, after the publication criticized previous popes. 

“It betrays a seriously wrong mindset, for which you (or the one who has to take the responsibility for you) are to be considered as a dangerous person and unfit for the job, which is to give healthy food to the faithful who read this our paper,” the cardinal wrote. “Either you resign or I should warn the faithful to avoid reading the paper.”

However, Cardinal Zen has repeatedly clashed with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, who has previously described the Vatican’s tepid intervention into Chinese religious persecution as attempts to “normalize” the Church.

“With China, our current interest is to normalize the life of the Church as much as possible, to ensure that the Church can live a normal life, which for the Catholic Church is also to have relations with the Holy See and with the Pope,” Parolin said previously, according to Catholic News Agency.

Timothy Nerozzi is a writer and editor from northeastern Pennsylvania. He covers religious issues with a focus on the Catholic Church and Japanese society and culture.