The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), not content with harassing, arresting, and raiding underground Catholic communities, is now going after even those Catholic-identifying churches in Shanghai which have compromised with the state and received previous approval.
The CCP has long been trying to stamp out underground Christian churches and communities while arresting pastors and priests, including Cardinal Joseph Zen and Pastor Ezra Jin. Hitherto, the CCP was more tolerant of churches and individuals who compromised their faith enough to mix Communist ideology and reverence for the genocidal regime with Christian teachings in a state-approved formula. This allowed the Christians to engage in public worship without immediate consequences from government thugs. But it seems that the CCP is now determined to allow no compromise, no trace of Christianity, according to a new report highlighting the increasing persecution of Catholics in Shanghai.
Catholic funerals, online prayer broadcasts, pilgrimages, and the sale of Bibles and other religious books are all coming under increased government crackdowns, according to The Epoch Times on August 21. “According to a Shanghai Catholic’s documentation of how the regime has been further restricting Catholic activities in the past year, the latest measure came on Aug. 18, prohibiting funeral homes across the city from conducting Catholic funeral rites starting this month,” the outlet explained.
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Among the prominent churches now drawing CCP ire is St. Ignatius Cathedral, a state-approved church in Shanghai. But that approval is fast disappearing, according to The Epoch Times.
“The report follows a series of restrictions that Catholics say have increasingly limited their ability to practice their faith,” the outlet noted. “At Shanghai’s St. Ignatius Cathedral, one of the city’s best-known Catholic churches, the religious goods store has stopped selling Bibles, prayer books, and theology-related materials, according to local Catholics.”
Last year, China’s regime enforced new laws against online preaching and prayer. Preaching the gospel is now restricted to certain locations and certain limits. The CCP cannot stand for its subjects to have any religion outside the cult-like worship of dictator Xi Jinping and Marxist principles.
Of course, Chinese Communist persecution of Catholics is not new; it has been ongoing ever since the days of Mao. But Western nations should pay attention to the fact that a new wave of persecution is occurring in China.
Father Benedict Chao, a Catholic Trappist monk who survived Communist persecution in China, has died in Hong Kong at the age of 108.
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) August 10, 2026
Info: Asia News pic.twitter.com/j2MmIE7mxA
Finally, we cannot forget to ask the question — Will the Vatican bother to denounce the increased persecution of Catholics in China? Pope Leo XIV approved a state-appointed bishop not long ago, an ominous sign for Chinese Catholics looking to him to stand up for them. And if the Vatican does not openly condemn the CCP for what it is doing in Shanghai, then Leo has lost all credibility.
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