Communist China is reverting to its Maoist roots and becoming increasingly hostile to any religion other than the state-sanctioned variety. Last week World Watch Monitor reported on the country’s latest totalitarian move against Christians ~

More than 300 Christian children in two high schools in Zhejiang province, which has been referred to as the “Jerusalem of the East” for its strong Christian presence, have been asked to fill out a form stating that they did not follow a religion, World Watch Monitor has been told by a trusted local source […]
 
In the first school, which has around 200 Christian students, the teacher demanded they rewrite the questionnaire, stating that they had “No religion”. But when filling out the next questionnaire, half of the children maintained that they were Christians. According to our source, following further warnings, in the end all but one child complied.
 
In the other school, which has around 100 children, it was the class prefect who forced the Christians to resubmit their papers, stating that they had “no religion”.

Unfortunately, we can expect to see much more of the same sort of persecution now that the Vatican – unbelievably – has recklessly agreed to cooperate with the communist government. Three weeks ago, in a story that didn’t get much coverage, outside of the faith-based corner of the web, the Holy See signed an historic and consequential agreement with the People’s Republic of China.

 
This “provisional agreement,” while it promises the pope symbolic recognition as the titular head of all Catholics in China, deals primarily with the appointment of bishops, the Catholic Church abdicating much of its authority in this area to the Chinese Communists(!). The key concessions are ~

• Communist authorities alone will nominate a potential candidate for bishop. The pope must then approve or reject that candidate. If he vetoes the first candidate, Beijing will nominate another.
 
• Pope Francis will formally consecrate as bishops seven men who were made “bishops” by the communist authorities over the past decade. All of these men have been previously rejected by the Vatican as bishop candidates for various reasons having to do with personal morality, public actions, or both.

This one-sided deal is actually reminiscent of the capitulation of Germany’s Christians (Protestants and Catholics) to Hitler’s National Socialist Party, prior to WWII, as Maureen Mullarkey writing at the Federalist pointed out ~

The accord bears certain resemblance to the 1933 Reichskonkordat between the Vatican and the Third Reich. At the time, the church hoped to safeguard its own interests; the Reich sought to foreclose church influence on German politics by restricting clergy to strictly religious acts. Today’s Sino-Vatican agreement, judged by the nature and extent of President Xi Jinping’s program of Sinofication, does the same. As the Reichskonkordat was criticized for lending legitimacy to the Nazi regime, the same complaint can be directed at this bow to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).

Cardinal Joseph Zen has been condemning what he considers to be a betrayal of the faithful, since this outrageous agreement was first announced last year ~

“They’re giving the flock into the mouths of the wolves. It’s an incredible betrayal,” the 86-year-old retired bishop of Hong Kong told Reuters in an interview published Thursday. […]
 
“The consequences will be tragic and long lasting, not only for the church in China, but for the whole church because it damages the credibility,” Zen told Reuters.
 
Zen told Reuters that (Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin), the Vatican’s highest diplomat, doesn’t seem to have high regard for the Catholic faith.
 
“I don’t think he has faith. He is just a good diplomat in a very secular, mundane meaning,” Zen said.
 
“He should resign,” he added. “It’s a complete surrender … I have no other words.”

Tragically, this capitulation will only result in further acts of religious intolerance. It’s already happening ~

One recent innovation is the establishment of loyalty records on each citizen. This entails monitoring their choice of reading and their social media communications. *
 
(R)eligious proselytizing joins pornography, gambling, rumor-mongering, and other purveyors of “improper values” as an illegal online activity. As of the signing, the regime had terminated more than 4,000 websites and online accounts during a three-month campaign against “harmful” online information, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Jason Morgan, writing at the Catholic website “The Remnant,” is thoroughly – and correctly – disgusted with the church’s agreement ~

Here’s what the Vatican is not mentioning. China—which is still the world capital of forced late-term abortions and of abortion overall, perhaps due to which Vatican bishop Marcel Sánchez Sorondo recently called China “the best implementer of Catholic social doctrine”—is officially atheistic and permits no religion to operate outside of the complete control of the CCP. The Chinese government, not the Vatican and not the Holy Spirit, appointed or caused to be appointed, under pain of imprisonment and/or death, the fake “bishops” largely rejected by the real Chinese faithful and even by Cardinal Zen, the Hero of Hong Kong.
 
That is to say, the current Chinese government, which was founded by an act of sheer violence and terror and lying by Mao Zedong and his henchmen in 1949, has now arrogated to itself the authority to say who is and who isn’t a bishop in the Catholic Church. And Francis & Co. approve. (Perhaps Bergoglio can use the hammer-and-sickle crucifix that Bolivian dictator Evo Morales gave him as the official papal seal of approval for the China deal?)

As Cardinal Zen told Raymond Arroyo last March ~

“We have to pray, because what is coming is a tragedy,” he said, “and will weaken the faith, and we are going back to the times of the catacombs.”

 
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* Seems our totalitarian friends at Google are only too happy to assist the Chi-Coms in oppressing these dissidents ~ Google employees quit over controversial China search engine project, report says

 
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Related:
China Forbids Children From Churches as Religious Rights Diminish ~

Across the country, churches are reportedly facing increasing pressure to align with the Communist Party; including, in some areas, replacing crosses with the national flag and displaying pictures of Xi Jinping.

Cardinal Zen torches the Vatican and his critics over China deal
Vatican to Allow Beijing to Name Bishops
Christians aren’t the only religious group being targeted by the Chinese government ~ 300,000 (Muslims) detained in Xinjiang concentration camps were transferred to other provinces ~ More echoes of Nazi Germany? ~

As more and more minorities have been detained, the concentration camps in Xinjiang have become full. In order to avoid an investigation and exposure by the international community, authorities transferred Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other minorities from south Xinjiang to north Xinjiang and Kazaks from north Xinjiang to Gansu via trains.
 
In addition, six prisons have been built or remodeled in Qinghe County, Altay in order to detain people.
 
Xinjiang natives verified that those detained in re-education camps were transferred to north Xinjiang and Gansu, 1,000 km away. He said, “It is said that over 300,000 [people] have been transferred to Gansu.”

China Goes Digital In Crackdown On Religion, Online Religious Instructors Forced To Register And Qualify As ‘Politically Reliable’ ~

The restrictions are the latest in a long line of measures imposed against religious expression in China as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s crusade to “sinicize” religion in the country and bring it in line with the teachings and regulations of the ruling Communist Party, which forbids religious belief or belief in any power higher than the state for its members.

Pope sides with the Chi-coms

As Christians are increasingly persecuted in China, ⁦@Pontifex⁩ hands over control of the Catholic Church to the communists. How much more will we tolerate from this man? https://t.co/AiYZohShHw

— Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) September 14, 2018

 
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Updated: 10-14-18
Added: Expert Explains Vatican Compromise With Communist China ~

An exclusive interview with Chinese cultural expert (Steven Mosher) sheds some light on why Vatican prelates are compromising with China’s Communist government at the expense of the Church.