China Pressures Underground Catholics to Join State Church

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is increasing its pressure campaign on underground Catholics, according to a report from Human Rights Watch.

“A decade into Xi Jinping’s Sinicization campaign and nearly eight years since the 2018 Holy See-China agreement, Catholics in China face escalating repression that violates their religious freedoms,” Yalkun Uluyol, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in an April 15 report. “Pope Leo XIV should urgently review the agreement and press Beijing to end the persecution and intimidation of underground churches, clergy, and worshippers.”