In the annals of historical boorishness, it would be hard to find something more egregious than the Holy See’s timing as it renewed its 2018 agreement with the People’s Republic of China, which allows the Chinese Communist Party a significant role in the appointment of Catholic bishops. That renewal took place on Oct. 22: the liturgical memorial of Pope St. John Paul II, whose defense of religious freedom helped bring down European communism, and whose burning desire to visit China was repulsed by a communist regime that obviously feared he might ignite another revolution of conscience there. The mind boggles at the juxtaposition.
John Paul II’s feast was more appropriately observed in London, where Lord David Alton of Liverpool, a staunch Catholic, pro-lifer, and human rights advocate helped publicize a report by Aid to the Church in Need on the “Persecuted and Forgotten” — and had this to say about the Vatican-China agreement.
“Ever since it was first signed in 2018, the Sino-Vatican deal has only led to a further increase in and intensification of religious persecution in China and has not led to any improvements whatsoever,” he said. “Ask Xinjiang’s persecuted Uyghur Muslims, Tibet’s Buddhists, Christians from all denominations, and Falun Gong. It is deeply problematic that this [agreement] has been renewed yet again with no debate, scrutiny, or, it seems, conditionality.”
Alton added, “The release from prison of jailed Catholic bishops and priests ought at least to have been a condition for the Vatican’s agreement in renewing this tawdry deal. The Vatican should also have called for an end to the continuing unjust imprisonment of Jimmy Lai, a faithful and deeply committed Catholic incarcerated in Hong Kong, as a precondition. Instead, there is a deafening silence when it comes to freedom of religion or belief. The Vatican’s silence on human rights and religious freedom in China is profoundly disappointing and dangerously counterproductive.”
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