He added that Catholics in particular have faced widespread persecution.
“Being a Catholic, especially, makes one suspect in the eyes of the present-day Beijing authorities. Catholics are not allowed to join the military, the Communist Party, or hold any sensitive government position, so they are already in a kind of Dhimmi status — to use a Muslim term referring to second-class status — within Chinese society,” Mosher said.
In 2018, the Vatican signed a confidential agreement with the CCP that would require the regime to consult with the Holy See about the appointment of bishops. That deal was renewed in 2020 and again in 2022.
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, 91, the bishop emeritus of Hong Kong and an outspoken advocate for religious freedom and democracy, has been a sharp critic of the agreement with Beijing, calling it a “betrayal” of China’s underground Church.
The deal has failed at its purported purpose of helping the Catholic Church in China, Mosher told CNA.
“The Sino-Vatican Agreement has not helped to expand the Church in China. Rather, to this China watcher, the Sino-Vatican Agreement is being used by the CCP to accomplish the slow decapitation of the Catholic Church in China. That is certainly the goal of Xi Jinping, a brutal dictator cut from the same cloth as Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin,” Mosher said.
“Bear in mind that of the 104 CCP-defined dioceses in China, at least 36 remain without bishops. Most of the rest are headed by bishops who are rapidly approaching, if not well beyond, retirement age. The acceptance by the Vatican of one or two CCP-nominated bishops each year will not begin to offset the ongoing attrition in their ranks, much less begin to fill the dozens of empty sees,” he said.
Zelda Caldwell is News Editor at Catholic News Agency based in Washington, DC. She previously worked for Aleteia, as News and Culture editor.