US EditionChina 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.
28 Articles
28 Articles
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.
Associated Press News
China raises pressure on underground Catholics to join official church, Human Rights Watch finds
Human Rights Watch, in a detailed new report, says Chinese authorities are increasing pressure on underground Catholic communities to join the state-controlled official church while tightening surveillance and travel restrictions on all of China’s estimated 12 million Catholics.
Believers of underground churches now have little choice but to join the Catholic state church, which is under strong control of Beijing.
An investigation by the international organization Human Rights Watch points out that the Chinese government has been escalating its oppression of Catholics in recent years, including ideological control, surveillance, and travel restrictions. The Vatican-China agreement signed in 2018 has fueled the Chinese government's oppressive practices, and Pope Leo XIV should review the Vatican-China agreement as soon as possible.
The campaign started h a d each to ensure that confissis is religious and independent churches remain aligned with the Chinese Communist Party.
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