“Every community, every diocese has organized congresses, performances, theaters, and even pilgrimages to historic sites of the Communist Party,” said Father Bernardo Cervellera, a mission priest and church newspaper, who has defended the Church in China for the past two decades as editor-in-chief of AsiaNews, told CNA. Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing held a watch party at the bishop's residence for President Xi Jinping's July 1 speech marking the centenary of the CCP.
Forty priests and church members attended a symposium in Jiangxi province to study how to "implement the spirit" of Mr. Xi's speech. And Catholics in Hubei held flag-raising and party-celebrating ceremonies, according to the website of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. “But they are prohibited from making pilgrimages to Our Lady of Sheshan, which is the national holy site for Our Lady in China,” the priest said.
For Cervellera, the situation is a prime example of the challenges facing Catholic communities today living under the eyes of the CCP. Three years after the China deal with the Vatican In the nearly three years since the Holy See signed the agreement with the Chinese government in September 2018, the actual situation for underground Catholics is very different from that of non-Catholics. under the leadership of the government-approved Patriotic Association. For the underground Catholic community, life is “very harsh,” explains Cervellera.
“We have seen a number of sister assemblies destroyed, churches closed. We have seen priests kicked out of their parishes and some seminarians banned from theology…and bishops arrested or put under total house arrest, 24 hours a day,” he said.
On the other hand, government-approved Catholic churches have relatively more freedom of worship, but face other challenges, including pressure from the government to censor portions of Catholic teaching. , while at the same time bringing Chinese nationalism and love of the party to the preaching.
Catholic priests who are legal ministers in China are required to sign a paper in which they promise to support the Communist Party in China. They are only allowed to serve in approved places of worship, in which minors under the age of 18 are not allowed. “And above all, they must celebrate the glory of the Communist Party,” Cervellera said.
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