Pope Francis-era deal with Chinese Communist Party again under scrutiny as Pope Leo takes the reins

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Pope Leo XIV celebrates first Mass as pontiff

Pope Leo XIV, history’s first North American pope, said Friday that his election was both a cross and a blessing as he celebrated his first Mass in Sistine Chapel. (Associated Press)

A 2018 deal between the Vatican and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secured by Cardinal Pietro Parolin is once again under scrutiny as questions remain over how newly appointed Pope Leo XIV will take on the CCP.

The Parolin-brokered deal was and remains a controversial agreement between the leaders of the Catholic Church and the CCP, which has long oppressed Catholics across China. 

While the agreement was championed by the late Pope Francis and his secretary of state, Parolin — the Vatican’s top diplomat — as a step toward "normalizing" Catholicism in the communist nation, experts argue it has brought dangerous consequences for the faithful.

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Cardinal Pietro Parolin. (Stefano Carofei /IPA/Sipa/IMAGN)

"It erodes papal authority to appoint bishops, the leadership of the Catholic Church in China," Nina Shea, senior fellow and director of the Center for Religious Freedom at Hudson Institute, told Fox News Digital. 

"A principal responsibility of a bishop is to train and ordain priests," she explained. "Therefore, the CCP has been given control in determining the chain of authority in the hierarchical church."

Under this agreement, all Catholic clergy are required to register with the CCP’s Patriotic Association — which was created in 1957 and was long rejected by the Catholic Church as illegitimate because it required that all clergy reject foreign influence, including that of the pope.

Parolin in 2019 said the aim of this agreement was "to advance religious freedom in the sense of finding normalization for the Catholic community."

Details of the deal remain unclear because it has been kept secret, explained Shea. 

While the agreement reportedly looked to end the decades-long negative ties between the Vatican and the CCP by allowing China to have more influence over bishop appointments, experts have argued for years it gave too much authority to the oppressive government. 

But there is an even greater problem when it comes to the Vatican seeming to have capitulated to the CCP.

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Pope Francis greets the people of China as he concludes Mass in the Hun Theatre in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Sept. 3, 2023. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

Following the agreement, the Vatican additionally agreed to drop its support for the underground Catholic network, which has existed in China for decades and has supported millions of Catholics in the country.  

According to Shea, the CCP essentially "tricked" the Vatican because it simultaneously, in what she believes was an unbeknownst move to Parolin, banned children from being allowed in the Catholic Church — this ban included important sacraments of the church like baptisms, holy communion and confirmations.

The ban effectively blocks the continuation of the Catholic Church in China.

"The underground, even during the harshest period under Mao, carried out this education and evangelization," Shea said. "Without being able to perpetuate itself, the Catholic Church in China could die out in a couple generations."

"It’s a campaign to create an atheist society," she added. 

The Vatican did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions over whether Pope Leo will adhere to the agreement with the CCP or look to forge a new one.

A man looks on in a Catholic church in Zhuozhou, China's northern Hebei province, on April 22. (Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images)

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But in his first homily on Friday since being made leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo highlighted the church’s fight against rising atheism.

"There are many settings in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman. This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism," he said. "These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied."

The pope said, for this reason, "missionary outreach is desperately needed."

Pope Leo warned that a "lack of faith" has led to not only a "loss of meaning in life" for many, but also "the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society."

Pope Francis appoints U.S.-born cardinal, prelate prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Robert Francis Prevost during the Ordinary Public Consistory for the Creation of new Cardinal at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Sept. 30, 2023. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

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While congratulatory messages were issued by leaders of Catholic and non-Catholic nations alike, China did not issue a similar message upon the pope’s appointment on Thursday.

In a Friday press conference, when asked about the Church’s new leader, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, "We hope that under the leadership of the new pope, the Vatican will continue to have dialogue with China in a constructive spirit, have in-depth communication on international issues of mutual interest, jointly advance the continuous improvement of the China-Vatican relations and make contributions to world peace, stability, development and prosperity."?