Pope Leo XIV Capitulates to China’s Crushing of Historic Catholic Dioceses

Vatican trumpets minor victory as Communist authorities recognize “episcopal dignity” of persecuted prelate

In an unprecedented turn of events, Pope Leo XIV has capitulated to China’s decision to abolish two historic dioceses established by Pope Pius XII and to recognize, in their stead, a new diocese instituted unilaterally by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

On September 10, the Holy See Press Office announced that Leo had agreed to the suppression of the dioceses of Xuanhua and Xiwanzi, created in 1946, to “promote the pastoral care of the Lord’s flock and to attend more effectively to its spiritual good.”

The Vatican revealed that Leo had also approved the CCP-created diocese of Zhangjiakou in place of the dioceses of Xuanhua and Xiwanzi, an ecclesiastical fabrication of the state-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), also known as the Patriotic Church.

A Patriotic Church loyalist and collaborator, Fr. Joseph Wang Zhengui was ordained as bishop of Zhangjiakou on the day the Vatican announced the new arrangement. Zhengui has coordinated pastoral activities in Zhangjiakou diocese, which the CCP created in defiance of the Vatican in 1980.

Leo Continues Predecessor’s Policy of Appeasement

The Zhangjiakou diocese is the first CCP-orchestrated reorganization in China Leo has approved since he assumed the pontificate. It represents a significant step in the implementation of the secret China-Vatican agreement, signed in 2018 under Pope Francis, which both liberal and conservative Catholics continue to oppose, as well as prominent human rights activists.

Faithful Catholics have slammed the new arrangement as a betrayal of Chinese Catholics who remain loyal to the Vatican in the face of persecution. According to the Spanish Catholic portal InfoVaticana, for over a century the now-suppressed dioceses of Xiwanzi and Xuanhua were bastions of Catholicism in northern China, with a strong missionary tradition to Mongolia.

Communist authorities orchestrated the Xiwanzi massacre months after Pius created the two dioceses. They imprisoned, and tortured, and executed several priests; forced nuns and Catholic girls to marry soldiers; arrested and incarcerated Catholic laity; and confiscated church property.

Bishops and priests loyal to Rome were sent to forced labor camps. Numerous weekly meetings lasting from five to seven hours at a time were held to indoctrinate the population, taking no account of mealtimes, the heat of summer, or the cold of winter, according to Paul Hattaway’s China’s Book of Martyrs.

CCP Persecutes Vatican Loyalists in Zhangjiakou Diocese

In 2019, 45 priests from Zhangjiakou diocese were ordered to undergo “ideological conversion classes” to force them to join the CPCA. “They used the Vatican-China agreement to pressure us, implying that even the pope has agreed that the official and underground churches should be unified,” a priest who was forced to participate in the program told Bitter Winter.

“The government also demanded that we raise the national flag, sing the national anthem, and patriotic songs in the church. This will be implemented in churches nationwide,” the priest added. “The CCP is carrying out deep-level indoctrination on these priests to make them completely ‘party-fied.’”

However, the Vatican claimed a minor victory by having the CCP acknowledge the “episcopal dignity” of Bishop Augustine Cui Tai, emeritus of Xuanhua.

Because of his loyalty to Rome and his refusal to join the Patriotic Church, the bishop has been detained multiple times since 1993. He was last arrested in April 2021 and has been missing ever since, Bitter Winter reported in March.

Communists Ramp Up Persecution Despite Concordat with Rome

Leo has continued to maintain Pope Francis’s policy of remaining silent before Beijing despite the CCP’s escalating persecution of Christians and Catholics, as The Stream reported in July. The surge in persecution began this spring with the arrests of priests, nuns, and lay Catholics. CCP authorities closed churches and coerced the faithful into complying with the CPCA.

The conscientious objectors are part of the underground Catholic Church, which remains loyal to the Vatican despite its concordat with the CCP. Critics have slammed that as a betrayal of faithful Catholics and an appeasement of the Communist regime.

InfoVaticana explained that Leo’s decision “renders invisible the suffering of those who resisted at the cost of imprisonment, exile, and destruction” and

consolidates the power of the official Church controlled by the regime and demoralizes the underground Church, which for decades maintained communion with Rome under conditions of brutal repression.

This is a historic turning point that involves not only the acceptance of a bishop linked to the Communist Party, but also adherence to the ecclesial cartography designed by the regime.

The Vatican defended that the recent events as “the result of dialogue between the Holy See and the Chinese authorities,” which “constitute a significant step forward in the journey of communion of the new diocese.”

Dr. Jules Gomes (BA, BD, MTh, PhD) has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.