Report details rising pressure on underground Catholics as China denies crackdown

The Chinese government is expanding unit connected underground Catholic communities to subordinate nan state-controlled religion while tightening surveillance and restrictions connected an estimated 12 cardinal Catholics, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

The group said successful its study that nan accrued unit is portion of a decade-old run to guarantee belief groups align pinch Communist Party ideology.

The Associated Press reported that nan Chinese authorities has rejected nan claim, saying Human Rights Watch is "consistently biased against China."

China’s Catholics person agelong been divided betwixt a state-run religion and an underground religion loyal to nan Vatican. In 2018, Pope Francis reached a woody allowing nan Chinese authorities a domiciled successful appointing bishops to easiness tensions.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during an world business gathering astatine The Great Hall Of The People connected March 28, 2025, successful Beijing, China. (Ken Ishii/Pool/Getty Images)

"A decade into Xi Jinping’s Sinicization run and astir 8 years since nan 2018 Holy See-China agreement, Catholics successful China look escalating repression that violates their belief freedoms," Human Rights Watch interrogator Yalkun Uluyol said successful nan report. "Pope Leo XIV should urgently reappraisal nan statement and property Beijing to extremity nan persecution and intimidation of underground churches, clergy, and worshipers."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson’s agency told The Associated Press that Human Rights Watch "fabricates each mode of lies and rumors, and lacks immoderate credibility whatsoever."

The agency added that nan authorities "oversees belief affairs successful accordance pinch nan rule and protects citizens’ state of belief belief and normal belief activities."

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A man looks connected astatine a Catholic religion successful Zhuozhou, China's bluish Hebei state connected April 22, 2025. In 1951, recently communist China severed ties pinch nan Holy See, forcing Catholics to take betwixt rank successful nan state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association aliases non-sanctioned churches loyal to nan pope. But nether Pope Francis, China and nan Vatican signed a 2018 statement allowing some Beijing and nan Holy See a opportunity successful appointing bishops successful an effort to adjacent nan schism successful China's 12-million-strong Catholic community. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP) / To spell pinch AFP communicative Vatican-religion-pope-China,FOCUS by Mary nan and Isabel Kua (Photo by ADEK BERRY/AFP via Getty Images) (Adek Berry/AFP)

Human Rights Watch said its researchers are not allowed into China and that nan study is based connected interviews pinch group extracurricular nan state who had firsthand knowledge of Catholic life successful China, on pinch experts connected Catholicism and belief freedom.

The 2018 agreement stipulates that Beijing proposes candidates for bishop, which nan pope tin veto, though nan afloat matter has ne'er been made public.

In June 2025, Pope Leo XIV, who had conscionable go nan pope, appointed a Chinese bishop nether nan 2018 statement and said he would proceed to grant nan woody "in nan short term."

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Pope Leo XIV waves arsenic he arrives astatine Saint Joseph's Cathedral successful Bamenda, connected nan 4th time of an 11-day apostolic travel to Africa, connected April 16, 2026. (Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP via Getty Images)

"I’m besides successful ongoing speech pinch a number of people, Chinese, connected some sides of immoderate of nan issues that are there," Leo said. "It’s a very difficult situation. In nan agelong term, I don’t dress to opportunity this is what I will and will not do, but aft 2 months, I’ve already begun having discussions astatine respective levels connected that topic."

Since 2018, Human Rights Watch says Chinese authorities person pressured underground Catholics to subordinate nan state-run religion done detentions, disappearances and location arrests, citing accounts from unnamed individuals who person near China.

The study besides said China has tightened ideological control, surveillance and restrictions connected religious activity and overseas ties, including requiring authorities support for clergy travel, while officially recognizing and intimately overseeing 5 religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam.

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Xi Jinping said successful 2016 that he would "Sinicize" nan country’s religions, a argumentation aimed astatine aligning belief practices pinch Communist Party ideology.

Human Rights Watch said authorities person taken sweeping steps to curb belief practice, including tearing down churches and crosses, blocking gatherings astatine unregistered churches and seizing belief materials not approved by nan state.

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The group said nan broader "Sinicization" run has besides led to intensified crackdowns connected Tibetan Buddhists and Muslims.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.