Leo XIV Approves Another Communist-Vetted Prelate

Joseph Chang Yanfeng was consecrated Bishop of Chifeng on July 22 after Leo XIV approved his candidacy under the secret Vatican–Beijing agreement.

The Vatican announced the appointment in the bloodless language of ecclesiastical bureaucracy. Chang had served as diocesan administrator since 2021, studied biblical theology in South Korea, and received Leo’s appointment on June 15 after his candidacy was approved through the “Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.”

That phrase conceals the central fact.

The government of an officially atheist Communist state is permitted to participate in choosing Catholic bishops. Rome retains a theoretical veto, but the Holy See has bound itself to refrain from appointing bishops without Beijing’s approval. The text of the agreement has never been made public. It was signed under Francis in 2018 and extended in 2024 for four more years, through 2028. The Vatican presents it as a means of producing bishops recognized by both Rome and the Chinese state.

Leo has chosen to continue it.

Here is the postconciliar hierarchy’s doctrine of authority in practice: when the Chinese Communist Party demands a voice in selecting successors of the Apostles, Rome offers dialogue, patience, discretion, and mutual approval. When priests preserving the Roman Mass and the preconciliar faith consecrate bishops to prevent their apostolate from dying, Rome suddenly remembers that papal jurisdiction is absolute, immediate, terrifying, and armed with excommunication.

The Communist government receives a confidential negotiating process.

The Society of Saint Pius X receives a public decree of condemnation.

That contrast reveals the governing instinct of the conciliar Church: it compromises with external enemies because it considers them dialogue partners, while prosecuting internal resistance because that resistance challenges the legitimacy of the revolution itself.

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