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China Raises Pressure on Underground Catholics to Join Official Church, Human Rights Watch Finds
The report says 12 million Catholics face surveillance, travel limits and pressure to join state-run churches as Beijing expands Sinicization controls.
- Human Rights Watch reported Wednesday that authorities are tightening surveillance and travel restrictions on China's estimated 12 million Catholics, forcing underground communities to join the state-controlled official church.
- President Xi Jinping's decade-long "Sinicization" campaign seeks to align religious practice with Communist Party ideology, while the 2018 Holy See-China agreement provides authorities a structure to pressure underground Catholics.
- New regulations adopted in December 2025 require all Catholic clergy to submit travel documents for state approval, while authorities increasingly restrict children's access to churches, violating international obligations.
- Some priests are barred from holding bank accounts or passports, facing severe survival challenges, while authorities have shuttered orphanages and limited access to religious teachings outside government control.
- ChinaAid urged the United States to impose consequences for the systematic eradication of independent religious life, while the Vatican spokesperson did not respond and the Chinese government has not replied to the findings.
40 Articles
40 Articles
catholicworldreport.com
National Catholic RegisterChina pressures underground Catholics to join state church, rights group says
“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” researcher Yalkun Uluyol said. [...]
China authorities pressure ‘underground’ Catholic groups to join state-controlled church
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday that Chinese authorities are increasing their pressure on ‘underground’ Catholic communities to join the state-controlled church. The recent intensification includes subjecting clergy to intense political or ideological training. Greater restrictions have also been imposed on religious activities on official church premises, including registration requirements for church services and the prohibition of …
A new report by the NGO for human rights focuses on the increase of pressure on Catholics by the Beijing authorities in the shadow of "sinicization" and agreement with the Holy See on the appointment of bishops. The story of a faithful of a "underground" community merged into an official diocese: "They make us pray as we were thieves." ...
Surveillance, travel restrictions, arrests: According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, China's leadership is increasingly exerting pressure on Catholics. Above all, so-called underground churches are affected. By Benjamin Eyssel.
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