New Pope Makes Nice With Communist Chinese Overlords… Is That REALLY Such A Good Idea?

Much has been said about the dictatorship of Xi’s CCP, their expansionist agenda, and their treatment of political dissidents and slave labor… but have we so quickly forgotten about their history of religious oppression?

As with so many other Communist regimes, the State is a Jealous god, that will tolerate no rivals. As ClashDaily has reported about Xi’s speech on the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Chinese Communist Party, churches are among those expected to parrot Dear Leader’s message.

As in other regimes, religious icons, including Christian ones, have been ordered to be replaced with portraits of Chairman Xi. And the state is making demands about what can and cannot be preached in Christian pulpits. Children are forbidden to attend church, or be given religious instruction, too.

There was a time when Christians chose to be fed to lions in the Colosseum rather than so much as burn a pinch of incense while reciting ‘Caesar is Lord’. But the times they are a-changing.

Under Pope Francis, a secret deal was struck in 2018. The deal granted the CCP certain rights and authority in, among other things, the appointing of Catholic bishops. Seeing as the Communist Party is explicitly atheistic, this should cause some obvious conflicts of interest.

The gap between the CCP’s understanding of the basic moral and spiritual requirements of church leadership and the scriptural standard in the New Testament is big enough that you could march an army through it. That’s kind of a problem, one might think.

That brings us to the newly installed replacement for Pope Francis — Pope Leo XIV — as the world watched to see how he would signal his relationship with China.

The good news is, he has not been silent about China’s regime, invoking a Polish martyr while calling out suffering of Chinese believers.

But it’s not all good news, is it?

The panel opened the episode by discussing Pope Leo XIV’s noteworthy appointment of Bishop Joseph Lin Yuntan, an underground Chinese bishop, as auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Fuzhou, a key archdiocese near Taiwan. However, many faithful are concerned that Yuntan’s appointment was recognized by the state-sponsored Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) and the Chinese Communist Part (CCP).

Westen noted that under the controversial Vatican-China deal, every bishop recognized by the CCPA has to swear an oath when they receive their appointment and read that oath.

“That he solemnly vowed to abide by the constitution and laws … of China, safeguard the unity of the motherland and social harmony, love the country and the Church, adhere to the principle of independent and self-running churches, adhere to the direction of Sinicization of the Catholic Church in our country, and contribute to the comprehensive construction of a modernized socialist country and the comprehensive advancement of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” the host read from the oath. — LifeSite

Here’s the July 2021 story we wrote about Xi’s Communist Party Birthday pronouncement:

CCP To Chinese Churches: Teach Xi’s Speeches Or Get Shut Down

This is literally a demand to bend the knee of worship to someone other than God (from the story, above):

Officials warned that a failure to comply with these orders would be considered a violation of Sinicization and would likely result in the church being shut down. Sinicization is enforced by the CCP and aims to impose strict rules on societies and institutions based on the core values of socialism, autonomy, and supporting the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.

Will the CCP-appointed leaders remain in their role of spiritual leadership?

If so, what does that say about the hard choices that need to be made in hostile countries like China between being faithful to God, or obedient to man.

The book of Acts makes it clear that those forces pull us in different directions, and from time to time throuogh history, hard choices need to be made about which of the two we will truly worship.

Pray for those in authority — Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox alike — that they find strength to make the right choice rather than the easy one.