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China’s Secret Policy
Directives from the Central Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party

On August 16, 1999, the Communist Party leadership circulated a 16-page document, setting out the government’s plans to increase control over the Chinese Catholic Church. The strategy adopted in this document is based on the assumption that Beijing will open diplomatic relations with the Holy See, and the Party strategists conclude that this development will require a more sophisticated effort to control the Church while preserving the appearance of religious freedom. Although it was intended only for the perusal of Party leaders, that document was eventually smuggled to the West, and made public in November 1999. The following are excerpts from the government document.

A proposal to reinforce the work on the Roman Catholic Church amid the new currents of change

I) To emphasize the importance, urgent nature, and complexity of the work at hand:

Mention was made of the principles governing the resumption of diplomatic ties between China and the Vatican. The Vatican should not interfere with the inner government of our country; this includes the principle that they should not interfere in our internal affairs under the pretext of religious interests.

The Vatican will take advantage of the normalization of relations between China and the Vatican to deny us the rights of independence, sovereignty, and autonomy within the church, and will seek to regain power over the Roman Catholic church in China.

Our immediate and most important task at hand is to consolidate the Patriotic Church, exert total control over education so as to obviate the influence of the Roman Catholic underground movement, preserve the peace and security of society, to confirm and strengthen the sovereign powers of our country’s Roman Catholic church, and to ensure that the Patriotic Church is in firm grasp and control of the situation.

II) To boost and confirm the structure of the Patriotic Church:

Regardless of the future development of Sino-Vatican relations, our firm and unshakable resolve is to maintain independence and self-autonomy at all costs.

We will confirm the construction of a Catholic patriotic association which will lead the Roman Catholic church, govern it in a spirit of democracy, under different levels and with different points of emphasis.

The final goal of all our work is to rely on a minority of church leaders and faithful, and through their total dependence on the Patriotic Church and related organizations, to ensure that a wholesome and democratic concentration of power is made, so as to counteract and thwart the Vatican from using her special privileged position to grasp and control our country’s church.

The basic function of the Patriotic Church is to assist the government in carrying out her policy of freedom of religion, and to realize her goal of independence and self-autonomy in religion. The Patriotic Church and the bishops’ conference should join together in a combined control of church affairs. . . .

The conference of representatives of the Chinese Roman Catholic Church constitutes the highest forum of power for all the country’s Catholics. And it is through elections that the leaders are selected under the principle of “One Association and One Conference” (one Patriotic Association and one bishops’ conference). . . .

The Central United Front and the Bureau for Religious Affairs wish to direct and guide all the regulations governing “One Association and One Conference.” And at the present moment, they will carefully draw up the working conditions of the Patriotic Church, as well as rules governing the administration of each diocese. They wish to adapt and reinforce the leading elite of “One Association and One Conference”—to pick out and select Catholic intellectuals, to reinforce the Chinese Patriotic Church, to pick out priests for staff work with the bishops’ conference.

All bishops over 75 years of age should be aided in their daily work by the appointment of an auxiliary bishop. Bishops should be elected on a systematic basis, and a class should be arranged for fostering future candidates for bishoprics. . . . Their political awareness should be raised and enhanced.

III) Education should be fully exploited to guard against the influence of the underground church.

The normalization of relations between China and the Vatican should help to solve the problems raised by the power and influence of the underground church. Could this favorable opportunity be used to win over the majority of the underground church members? That is an important element in the central government’s battle strategy. If we do not take advantage of this opportunity, we will find ourselves being used by the Vatican, and so we should adopt special tactics, and take a more positive and active role.

Educational progress

The majority of Catholics, because of their strict religious observance, disapprove of the idea of autonomy and independence within the church. But only a tiny minority use religious problems to create riots or disturbances, or to oppose the government.
The government’s aim is to convert the majority and then to isolate the remaining minority, to see that real power within the Roman Catholic church should be vested in the hands of the Patriotic Church.

We should guard against the possibility that the leadership of the underground church could emerge from hiding to take over power in the Patriotic Church, to assume open and legal positions from which to continue their battle against us. Illegal criminal activities should be strictly punished according to law.

Conversion work is to be undertaken under different circumstances. The guiding principles of conversion should be: “To observe the country’s constitutional law and other laws, obey management by the government, promise not to carry out any further illegal activities, and accept the government of the Patriotic Church.”

Prior to the normalization of relations between China and the Vatican, if underground bishops accept the “One Association and One Conference” principle, then everything should go smoothly. But . . . those who refuse to obey the Patriotic Church, should be the focus of our conversion tactics.

Underground priests who meet the requirements for conversion, should be dealt with on a provincial basis. Those underground bishops who do not meet these conditions, should be educated for conversion, but at the same time strict measures should be taken to prevent them from ordaining underground priests.

After the normalization of relations between China and the Vatican, measures should be taken to deal with those bishops and priests of the underground church who have not been converted. In accordance with the motto of “One Association and One Conference,” a public proclamation should be issued, requesting them to sign and register within a specified period of time. . . .

Each bishop or priest will be required to change his place of residence in order to prevent them from building on the influence which they have already gained in the past.

Those who have carried on long-term opposition to the government, and who have refused to cooperate—regardless of whether the Vatican acknowledges their status—we, on our side, will refuse to recognize them. Those underground priests who have not converted will be treated to collective re-education. For those who do not meet the official requirements, their priestly status will not be recognized, nor will they be allowed to carry out any ecclesiastical duty or function.

Those underground bishops and priests who have been denied government recognition of their religious status will be forcibly re-educated. . . . Those responsible for inciting a riot or for any illegal action will be dealt with severely by the police authorities.
All seminaries and convents which are funded by the underground church will be publicly dismantled. All members of the novitiate, whether men or women, who behave well will be allowed to continue their studies at regular seminaries. Those who do not behave well will be sent back to their home provinces.

Strong measures to protect the security of society

Great emphasis is to be placed on public safety and security during the period of the normalization of relations between China and the Vatican. Early preventive measures have been taken against all factors which contribute to social unrest. After the normalization of relations between China and the Vatican, every care must be taken to guard against the interference and control of the Roman See based on their legal status and position. In regions where the underground church is most powerful, we must take special care to guide, direct, and re-educate the faithful. We must try to prevent religious fever. . . . During the period of normalization of relations, we should prevent the zeal for building churches to come to the fore. Those churches built illegally under the auspices of the underground church and already destroyed will not be reconstructed.

We should increase the guidance and direction by the Party and the government over Roman Catholic church work. Superiors and heads of departments should penetrate to the very foundations, to the man in the street; they should carry out their ecclesiastical duties with great circumspection, and should carry out their functions on behalf of the faithful on a face-to-face basis.

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