In 2018, the Vatican signed a deal with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), attempting to regularize the status of the underground church. The details of the arrangement were kept secret from the laity. Three years later, however, the repression of Christians, whatever their denomination, is at its highest point since the Cultural Revolution. As the Chinese Communist Party celebrates its centenary, Christianity—and other faiths—remain among the challengers it fears most.
Religious controls have been part of communist practice since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. As a result, churches split into “patriotic” associations, officially sanctioned if frowned upon. Unrecognized denominations’ status ranged, depending on the government’s mood, from fully underground to operating openly but cautiously.
