laowhy86

China and the Catholic Church

Added 2018-09-24 16:06:48 +0000 UTC

Hey Laowinners!

While China has recently been cracking down on Christianity, and much more so, Islam, there have been some recent developments with the Catholic church that point to some form of cooperation.

Interestingly enough, the Chinese constitution allows for freedom of religion, however, the party has always had the final say as to what degree. Churches were more common in the Hu Jin Tao days, but now, more and more unsanctioned churches are being destroyed, or repurposed. Citizens are being recorded and harassed if they practice (particularly in underground churches). (The crackdown on Islam is easy to read up on, just search Xinjiang camps.)

Historically, the Catholic church never really could exist in communist China, because the party was the only body allowed to appoint bishops, clergy etc, therefore rendering the church an arm of the government. Catholics have a certain process in which only the board of the Vatican can make these choices, so many catholics believed the government run churches to be false, and not count as a true house of their religion.

Recently, there has been some cooperation in which Rome may be allowed some involvement in the selection process for the Chinese run Catholic church.

I find this interesting in the current anti-religious climate of China. Who knows if it will pan out.