China is removing crosses from churches, replacing images of Christ with Xi Jinping

A new report details the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) efforts to "exert total control" over the Catholic Church and other religious faiths within its borders and to "forcibly eradicate religious elements" that the party deems contrary to its political and policy agenda.

The analysis, published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) last week, asserts that the CCP's "sinicization of religion" policy consistently violates the internationally protected right to freedom of religion. The term sinicization means to conform something to Chinese culture, but the policy essentially subordinates faiths to "the CCP's political agenda and Marxist vision for religion," according to the report.

Chinese officials have ordered the removal of crosses from churches and have replaced images of Christ and the Virgin Mary with images of President Xi Jinping, according to the report. They have also censored religious texts, forced members of the clergy to preach CCP ideology, and mandated the display of CCP slogans within churches.

To subordinate religions to the party, the government forces religious groups to enroll in various "patriotic religious associations" and their local branches. For Catholic churches, this means enrolling in the Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China, which is officially under the control of China's State Administration for Religious Affairs and the CCP's United Front Work Department.

Anyone who practices religion outside of the state-approved associations is considered to be in a "cult" and subjected to anti-cult provisions in Chinese law, a policy that has resulted in mass arrests and imprisonment, according to the report. Chinese officials have enforced the anti-cult provisions against underground Catholics who do not recognize the authority of the government-backed clergy and the distortion of the faith.

USCIRF Commissioner Asif Mahmood told CNA that the CCP considers underground Catholics to be a threat because they do not recognize the government's purported authority "to dictate religious doctrine and regulate religious affairs."

"While some Catholics choose to worship legally within the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, they are certainly not free as they must comply with the CCP's harsh mechanisms of control and interference," said Mahmood, who was appointed to the USCIRF by Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

"Ultimately, the Chinese government is solely interested in instilling unwavering obedience and devotion to the CCP, its political agenda, and its vision for religion, not protecting the religious freedom rights of Catholics," Mahmood said.

The report noted that the Vatican entered into an undisclosed agreement with the CCP in 2018 that established cooperation between Church authorities and Chinese officials in appointing bishops. However, the report states that "the government has unilaterally installed CCP-aligned bishops without the Vatican's consultation and approval" despite that agreement.

"Authorities continue to disappear underground Catholic religious leaders who reject the state-controlled Catholic church, including Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin and Bishop Augustine Cui Tai," Mahmood said. "The government also refuses to disclose the whereabouts of Catholic leaders who have been disappeared for decades, like Bishop James Su Zhimin."

Nina Shea, the director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom and a former commissioner of the USCIRF, told CNA that the CCP is "trying to sever the Catholic Church in China from the pope."

"Catholic bishops are special targets because of their essential role within the hierarchical Church in ensuring communion with the successor of St. Peter," Shea said. "Those who resist [government intrusion] are placed in indefinite detention without due process, banished from their episcopal sees, placed under indefinite security police investigation, disappeared, and/or prevented from exercising their episcopal ministries."

Shea added the Vatican-China agreement "makes no accommodation for bishops who resist joining the association for reasons of conscience nor does it address religious persecution." She said the religious persecution under Xi is "the most repressive for Chinese Catholics since the Mao era."

The CCP's efforts to control religion are not limited to Catholics but also extend to Protestants, Muslims, Taoists, Buddhists, and adherents of Chinese folk religions. Chinese officials also suppress the new Falun Gong religious movement.

One of the most egregious examples included in the report is the forced internment of Uyghur Muslims into reeducation camps, where they must pledge allegiance to the CCP and renounce their language, culture, and religious traditions. The report refers to the government's actions as constituting "genocide and crimes against humanity" against Uyghur Muslims.

The report also notes examples of forced reeducation against Tibetan Buddhists and removing or altering religious texts and imagery. Chinese officials have also destroyed or altered statues and temples belonging to Chinese Buddhists and Taoists, suppressed practices that are seen as contradictory to its goals, and forced the display of CCP slogans.