Could China select the next Pope?
Beijing spent decades trying to destroy the Catholic Church in China, but ultimately failed. With the inability to eradicate Catholicism, China has moved to a new tactic – control it from within.
In 2018, China pulled off one of the largest coups in the history of the Catholic church when they struck a deal with the Pope to jointly appoint bishops for China. Much of the agreement continues to remain secret, but the formulation and procedure is clear – the Pope has almost no say, but instead rubber stamps whoever China selects.
The power imbalance can be seen from how China announces new bishops months before the Pope can approve. In fact, China is currently flaunting their power by deliberately appointing not one, but two bishops within hours after the Pope’s death.
On April 25, the day after Easter Sunday, Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church in Rome, died. Two days later, the Chinese Communist government, the members of which have taken an oath of atheism, swung in to elect two bishops: Wu Jianlin of Shanghai and Li Jianlin of Xinxiang.
Now the architect of the relationship between the Vatican and China might become the new Pope, giving China incredible power over half of the world’s Christian population. Cardinal Pietro Parolin has established a powerful relationship with China and is now one of the top front runners to be Pope.
Not only is Cardinal Parolin responsible for making a secret deal with China to give China power to appoint their religious leaders in the world’s most populated country, but he has also insisted that Christians are not persecuted in China, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, of Hong Kong, fiercely criticized Parolin for his capitulation to China and as a result he was arrested and imprisoned.
China would gain a lot by gaining control over the Vatican. Not only do 48% of all Christians in the world call themselves Catholic, but Catholicism has a large sway over nations like Italy, Spain, Brazil, Philippines, etc. Also, the largest land owner in the world is not an oil company or a real estate investor, but is the Catholic Church, owning more than 70 million hectares of land. The Catholic church is also the world’s largest charity, the world’s largest medical care provider with thousands of hospitals and clinics around the world, and the world’s largest elderly home provider.
