Originally published at National Catholic Register
A recent analysis published by USCIRF asserts that the CCP’s “sinicization of religion” policy consistently violates the internationally protected right to freedom of religion.
A Chinese bishop with a history of support for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) emphasized in a recent diocesan seminar the socialist state’s influence over the Church more than the Vatican’s, according to Catholics who attended the bishop’s talks.
Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Shanghai, who was illicitly installed as bishop by Chinese authorities in 2023 and brought into communion with the Church by Pope Francis a year later under the Vatican-China deal, was featured as a speaker at a Vatican conference in May, where he promoted a “Chinese-style modernization” of the Church in line with socialist ideals.
Shen recently gave a diocesan seminar Nov. 4–6 about “Sinicization of Religion in Shanghai.” According to a report from Bitter Winter, Shanghai Catholics who attended the bishop’s seminar said he “did not discuss at all the Vatican Synod [on Synodality] nor Pope Francis and his recent documents.”
Instead, several sources said, Shen “focused on ‘sinicization,’ which as it is now clear does not mean adapting religion to Chinese customs but to the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party] ideology.”
