Dr Nishant A.Irudayadason

Professor of Philosophy and Ethics, Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune.

The Vatican and the Chinese government plan to renew an agreement they signed in 2018 in October, renewed again in 2020 for a two-year period. The deal, which has never been made public, would give the Chinese government the power to choose bishops and to the Vatican the ability to veto it. Human Rights Watch and many others, including within the Roman Catholic Church, have repeatedly criticized these arrangements. Even when the agreement was first signed, it was clear that China under President Xi Jinping was very repressive of religious freedom. In Xinjiang, the government has detained up to a million Uighurs and other Turkish Muslims, monitored the entire population, and tried to erase swathes of minority culture, including razing thousands of mosques. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a damning report confirming these abuses, concluding that the Chinese government may have committed crimes against humanity.

Apparently unhappy with the weakening of the Chinese Communist Party’s grip on the population after decades of economic growth, Xi has regained control in the name of the “great rejuvenation” of the Chinese nation. He has strengthened his own control over the Party bureaucracy, becoming China’s most powerful and abusive leader since Mao Zedong. In October, as the Holy See renews its agreement with the Chinese government, Xi will begin an unprecedented third term as party secretary-general. One of the pillars of Xi’s “Chinese Dream” is the government’s efforts to redirect people’s loyalty to the Party, and thus to Xi. Those who promote alternative worldviews – such as universal human rights, faith or spirituality – are persecuted and “re-educated”.

The Chinese government’s efforts to “sinicize” religions seem to go beyond imposing intensified controls on a complete overhaul of religions, from Tibetan Buddhism to Catholicism. It requires all religious establishments in China to fly the national flag and hold flag-raising ceremonies; replace “Western” icons, architecture and religious music with “traditional Chinese” versions; and promote “socialist core values.” By controlling symbols, teachings and personnel, Beijing is fundamentally transforming these religions so that they promote allegiance – not to people’s religious beliefs – but to the Party.

Why did the Vatican choose to strike a deal with the Chinese government at a time of increased religious oppression? In 2020, Pope Francis made a mention in passing calling the Uighurs “persecuted,” so he is obviously aware of Beijing’s abuses. Pope Francis called the Vatican-China deal “diplomacy” and an “art of the possible,” comparing the Vatican’s opening to China to the Vatican’s earlier efforts with the Soviet Union to maintain the presence of Catholicism in the country. In May, Beijing, through Hong Kong police, arrested Cardinal Zen, a 90-year-old human rights and democracy defender who had organized a humanitarian and legal fund for arrested protesters. He was arrested for “collusion with foreign forces,” a crime under the draconian new national security law that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. While the Vatican expressed “concerns” about his arrests, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said he hoped the arrest would not “complicate the Vatican-China dialogue.” The Vatican has made it clear that neither Zen’s arrest, nor the continued detention, enforced disappearance and imprisonment of Catholic bishops and faithful in China, such as the Bishop of Henan, Joseph Zhang Weizhu, or the Bishop of Hebei, Cui Tai, will influence its actions.

By renewing a secret agreement with Beijing, the Vatican effectively endorses the Chinese government’s perversion of religions and is dangerously close to being complicit in the country’s growing rights violations. But it still has time to turn back: make public its agreement with China, ensure that it respects religious freedom, and push Beijing to drop charges and investigations against Cardinal Zen and release Bishops Zhang Weizhu and Cui Tai. If the Catholic brothers and sisters in China have managed to persist in defending justice and human rights despite decades of persecution, the Vatican can surely find the moral courage to defend them.