China: Pressure On Catholics Escalates, HRW Says

Chinese authorities are increasing pressure on underground Catholic communities to join the state-controlled official church, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. In recent years, the Chinese government has tightened ideological control, surveillance, and travel restrictions on the country’s estimated 12 million Catholics.

Under President Xi Jinping’s “Sinicization” of religion campaign, which began a decade ago in April 2016, places of worship and religious teachings are expected to reflect Han-centric Chinese culture and Chinese Communist Party ideology. The 2018 Provisional Agreement Regarding the Appointment of Bishops between the Holy See and China, which ended a decades-long dispute over the appointment of bishops in China, has facilitated repression of Catholics in China. 

“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,” said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Pope Leo XIV should urgently review the agreement and press Beijing to end the persecution and intimidation of underground churches, clergy, and worshipers.”

The Chinese government does not allow independent researchers into China and punishes people for speaking to foreign media or rights groups. Human Rights Watch spoke with nine people outside the country who had firsthand knowledge of Catholic life in China, as well as experts on religious freedom and Catholicism in China. Human Rights Watch also reviewed government documents and articles in the Chinese government press.

On April 7, 2026, Human Rights Watch sent a summary of its findings seeking comment from the Chinese government and the Holy See. Neither has responded.

The Chinese government has long restricted the religious freedom of the country’s Catholics, who are permitted to worship only in official churches under the government-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. Most affected are the underground Catholic communities, which refuse to pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party. While religious persecution in China is longstanding, the environment has become increasingly repressive since President Xi took power in November 2012. 

Under the 2018 Holy See-China agreement, Beijing proposes candidates for bishop that the pope can then veto, though the agreement’s full text has never been made public. The agreement has been renewed three times and is now valid through October 2028, but no pope has exercised his veto, even after the Chinese government violated its terms by unilaterally appointingbishops. Pope Leo XIV, in office since May 2025, has also approved Beijing’s five appointments.

Since the 2018 agreement, Chinese authorities have pressured underground Catholic communities to join the Patriotic Association by arbitrarily detaining, forcibly disappearing, torturing, and subjecting underground Catholic bishops and priests to house arrest, based on reporting by the media and research organizations.

People interviewed said that the 2018 agreement provided an overarching structure for the authorities to pressure underground Catholics. It left them with “no other choice but to join the official church,” said a person whose church was demolished, its cross removed, and its members threatened and arrested. Another person said the agreement has proven to be an “intelligent weapon to legally destroy underground churches,” as senior underground bishops, under persecution for years, have died or been replaced by officially appointed bishops.

Some underground Catholics said they felt betrayed by the Vatican. While “members of those communities are used to persecution from the [Chinese] government,” said one expert who has interviewed dozens of Catholics in China, since 2018 “they feel like the Vatican is also coming after them.” 

A priest living abroad said that “many underground bishops are old, and they [Vatican and Beijing] are not appointing new underground bishops. Those communities may survive with their priests for a while but in the long run, underground Catholics [in China] will be gone.”

In recent years, the Chinese government has also intensified ideological control, surveillance, restrictions on religious activities, and foreign ties in official churches, Human Rights Watch said. 

The authorities have subjected clergy to intense political or ideological trainings, as frequent as twice a week in some locations. In addition to existing state control over religious materials, priests’ teachings are now subjected to approval from relevant authorities. The authorities have also restricted religious activities in official church premises by, for example, implementing registration requirements for church services and barring children from entering churches. There are also credible reports that authorities have prohibited religious education for children at home and religion-oriented charitable activities across the country.

In December 2025, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Conference formally adopted “Provisional Regulations on the Standardized Management of Exit-and-Entry Travel Documents for Catholic Clergy,” which requires all Catholic clergy to submit their travel documents to relevant departments, subjecting their trips outside the mainland, including for personal reasons, to state approval. The authorities also restrict foreigners from carrying out religious activities in China.

The Chinese government’s rights violations against Catholics contravene the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and violate the rights to freedoms of religion and belief, expression, association, and movement, among other rights, Human Rights Watch said.

“The Holy See and concerned governments should press Beijing to respect the religious freedom of all Catholics and other religions in China,” Uluyol said. “The Chinese government should stop persecuting and intimidating worshipers for upholding their faith and spirituality independent of Communist Party control.”