Here's that headline again:
The Vatican Weighs CCP Deal As Beijing Disappears Bishops, Appoints State-Backed Clergy
"One year into his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV may soon choose a side on an important position left by his predecessor — the Vatican’s accord with China, which allows the state to assign its own clergy while many bishops are arrested or missing.
The accord, also referred to as the Sino-Vatican deal, was signed in 2018 under the direction of Leo’s precursor, Pope Francis. It was intended to bridge the divide between the nearly 12 million Catholics who either worshipped in underground churches loyal to the pope or attended the CCP-sponsored Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), Reuters reported.
After the atheist Communist regime was established, the Chinese government severed diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 1951 and accused the papal internuncio of espionage, according to Time. (RELATED: Israeli Military Attempts To Halt Catholic Marian Festival In West Bank, Until Cardinal Intervenes)
The CCPA was founded after the separation, allowing the state to govern the Catholic Church in China, shift its teachings to align with state ideologies and practices and appoint bishops without the Vatican’s approval, The Time added.
Francis’ deal established a new status quo by allowing the Vatican to participate in the appointment of Chinese bishops. The agreement was extended for another four years in 2024.
Yet only a week after Francis died, and before the conclave process had even begun, China moved to elect two bishops, The Tablet reported. This move may have indicated a fear that the next pope would not view the arrangement as favorably as Francis did.
Leo, the first American pope, will not have to formally revisit the agreement until 2028. The Vulnerable People Project (VPP) told the Daily Caller that while Leo could abandon the deal at any time, his opportunity to break from his predecessor’s approach is narrowing.
However, in June 2025, Leo appointed a bishop in China whose appointment was shortly approved by the state, according to AsiaLink.
VPP told the Caller that Leo’s “appointment of a Chinese bishop under the deal’s framework signals drift toward continuity, but he has not yet fully staked his credibility on it.”
What’s equally important, the VPP said, is what information is not being shared.
Leo told EWTN News that he “cannot comment” on the arrest of Jimmy Lai, the Catholic founder and publisher of the tabloid Apple Daily, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the outlet reported in March.
Others within the Vatican have also appeared willing to accommodate Beijing’s approach.
In 2018, Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, the former Chancellor Emeritus of both the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, promoted a proposal for a World Health Organization (WHO) task force investigation into allegations of forced organ harvesting in China, according to The Hudson Institute. The decision resulted in the appointment of CCP Central Committee member Huang Jiefu to membership in the task force, according to the Hudson Institute.
Sánchez Sorondo publicly defended Beijing against forced organ harvesting accusations a year earlier without citing independent evidence, the Hudson Institute added, citing AsiaNews.
Republican New Jersey representative and advocate against Chinese organ harvesting, Chris Smith, told the Catholic Herald that the Vatican had also given a platform to Jiefu, a prominent Chinese transplant official, at a Summit on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism facilitated by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 2017.
Sánchez Sorondo asserted in 2018 that “those who are best implementing the social doctrine of the Church are the Chinese” because the government was “defending the dignity of the person,” according to the Hudson Institute.
China’s economy “does not dominate politics, as happens in the United States,” Sánchez Sorondo continued.
“On the contrary, the Chinese … propose work and the common good,” he added.
Jason Jones, founder and president of VPP, told the Caller that he has made ending the deal a personal mission.
One effort involved sending a copy of Jan Jekielek’s book, Killed to Order: China’s Organ Harvesting Industry and the True Nature of America’s Biggest Adversary, to every Catholic bishop in the United States.
Jekielek previously told the Caller that his book documents allegations that China has targeted religious minorities — most recently Christians — for detention and organ harvesting, with organs allegedly being sold on the black market or provided to CCP leaders and their associates.
Accompanying the book was a letter signed by Jones urging American bishops to read the book, take the information to prayer, and then take “wisdom and fortitude … to the pulpit.”
Jones said the next step is to distribute the book and letter to bishops across Asia in hopes of raising awareness of CCP religious persecution among influential leaders within the Catholic Church.
Alongside the letter campaign, Jones also launched a VPP website called Free Our Bishops, which highlights the imprisonment of Cardinal Zen and seven other bishops in China. It also hosts a petition calling for their release.
The bishops were arrested or went missing after standing up against the Chinese regime while promoting virtues taught by the Catholic church, including being pro-democracy, teaching children religion and the rejection of communism, according to the webpage. It is even unclear how many of these bishops are still alive.
“VPP’s pressure point is straightforward: every concession has produced more persecution, not less,” the organization told the Caller in a statement. “A papacy that claims to defend the global persecuted church while enabling its suppression in China is not a moral witness — it is a diplomatic accomplice.”
VPP continues its work and remains hopeful that advocacy towards religious freedom in China will play a role in not only distancing the pope from Beijing’s regime, but also the eventual collapse of the CCP altogether."
End of article, but not the end of the story...
Pray for the defeat of these modernist, communist monsters -- and for their conversion!
Viva Cristo Rey! Bl. Fr. Miguel Pro, Fr. Emil Kapaun, and Fr. Vincent Capodanno, pray for us...
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle...
St. Joseph, pray for us!!
Gene DeLalla
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