The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has once again exposed its brazen disregard for international agreements, this time by appointing a bishop during the Catholic Church’s sede vacante period following Pope Francis’ death on April 21, 2025. As cardinals convene in conclave to elect a new pope, the CCP’s decision to “elect” Fr. Li Janlin as bishop of Xinxiang on April 29th, is a deliberate affront to the Vatican and a direct violation of the 2018 Provisional Agreement meant to govern such appointments. This isn’t just a procedural overstep, it’s a calculated move by a regime that has long persecuted Catholics, from Cardinal Joseph Zen (pictured above) to political prisoner Jimmy Lai, showing it has no respect for the Church or its faithful.
The Vatican-China deal, renewed in October 2024, was intended to foster cooperation on episcopal appointments, with the pope holding the “final and decisive say,” as Vatican News reported on October 22, 2024. Yet, the CCP’s unilateral action during a papal interregnum, when no pope can approve such decision, makes a mockery of that framework. The Pillar Catholic revealed that the state-backed Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association orchestrated Li’s appointment, ignoring Xinxiang’s existing Rome-appointed bishop, Joseph Zhang Weizhu, named by Pope St. John Paul II in 1991. The CCP’s claim that this was a pre-planned move is laughable; they pushed forward during the sede vacante to assert dominance, just as they’ve done with other acts of religious suppression. The deal’s secrecy—its terms remain undisclosed, as Reuters noted in 2022—leaves the full extent of the violation unclear, but the intent is obvious: the CCP wants to control the Church in China, with or without Rome’s consent.
This isn’t the first time the CCP has flouted an international agreement. The Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 promised Hong Kong autonomy for 50 years after the 1997 handover, but the CCP systematically dismantled that pledge. The UK labeled China’s 2020 National Security Law a “clear and serious violation” of the treaty, as Reuters reported on July 1, 2020, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson noting it eroded Hong Kong’s freedoms. The CCP’s actions, arresting dissenters, curbing free speech, and gutting democratic structures, rendered the Declaration meaningless. By 2017, China called it a “historical document” with no practical significance. The CCP’s treatment of the Vatican-China deal mirrors this betrayal, but its continuing hostility toward Catholics goes further. Cardinal Joseph Zen, the nonagenarian retired bishop of Hong Kong, has been a target of the regime’s wrath. Arrested in 2022 on trumped up charges of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces”, Zen’s real crime was his outspoken criticism of the CCP’s persecution of Christians. His arrest was a blatant attempt to silence a moral voice, yet the Vatican’s muted response, expressing only “concern,” per Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, underscored the delicate tightrope it walks with Beijing. Meanwhile, my friend Jimmy Lai, a Catholic media tycoon and political prisoner, has been subjected to prolonged solitary confinement in Stanley Prison, Hong Kong, without access to the Eucharist, a fundamental sacrament for Catholics, according to the USCIRF. Lai, imprisoned for his role in peaceful pro-democracy protests, is being denied his spiritual rights in a clear act of religious persecution.
The CCP’s appointment of a bishop during the sede vacante, its persecution of figures like Cardinal Zen, and its denial of the Eucharist to Jimmy, all point to the same truth: this regime has no intention of honoring its agreements or respecting religious freedom. The Vatican’s dialogue with China was meant to protect Chinese Catholics, but the CCP’s actions, refusing to send a delegation to Pope Francis’ funeral and prioritizing “Sinicization” propaganda, as CatholicVote.org noted on May 1, 2025, show it views the Church as a tool to control, not a faith to respect. The new pope will need to confront this pattern of betrayal head-on, just as the UK had to face the gutting of the Hong Kong agreement. The CCP’s playbook is clear: sign, violate, and oppress. It’s time to call out this hypocrisy and stand firm for the Church’s rightful authority.
Declan Ganley is an Irish Catholic entrepreneur. He is the founder and Chairman of Rivada Space Networks.